The Federal Government has developed a National Gold Policy that will not only lead to the formal production of gold, but which will also regulate trading in gold, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Abubakar Bawa Bwari, has said.
The Minister, who made this known in an interview with our correspondent recently in Abuja, said the purpose of the scheme was in order to facilitate the development of gold value chain in the country and document gold export, thereby addressing the challenges of illegal export of gold, a trend that had led to huge economic losses for Nigeria.
He said the scheme would stem the prevalence of unhealthy working conditions and smuggling of solid mineral resources, which inhibited collection of royalties, fees and taxes.
Discussing the primary aim of the scheme, the minister said, “The Gold Purchase Scheme will promote the production, aggregation and refining of Nigerian gold, for purchase by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Approval for the development and implementation of the scheme by the Solid Minerals Development Fund was one of the major outcomes of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan.”
Discussing how the scheme would be administered, Bawa Bwari said the first step was to use the public sector window, which involved the production of gold by registered artisans under a model integrated gold production system, operated by an SMDF Special Purpose Vehicle.
He noted that this direct intervention was planned for Kebbi, Zamfara, Niger, Osun and Kaduna states, adding that the second window was the private sector window, which involved the provision of access to equipment through a lease/hire-purchase loan facility for Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Miners. This, he said, would be grouped into clusters for easy administration.
He said the loan facility would be serviced from income on gold production, which would be aggregated through existing mineral buying hubs by SMDF/CBN authorised off-takers.
While he assured that the scheme would guarantee the formal employment of 50 per cent of the 110,000 artisanal gold mining workforce, he added that an estimated 250,000 more jobs would be created, by extension, in other sectors that would service the organised gold supply chain.
“Projected production is 175,000 ounces of refined gold bullion in the first year, while projected earnings, in the gold sub-sector shall increase by N53 billion and boost the solid minerals sector’s contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product by 80 per cent,” he added.
The pilot phase of the National Gold Purchase Scheme is set to be launched in Birnin-Kebbi, Kebbi State by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Discussing the procedure for granting Gold Refinery Licenses, he said, “In line with the provisions of the Mineral and Metal Policy 2009, with reference to the development of downstream operations in the sector and decisions reached at the recently concluded ERGP Focus Lab, the Ministry granted the first ever gold refinery licence in Nigeria to Kian Smith Trade Company Limited.
