AS potential investors in the solid mineral sector grapple with the best options to adopt in order to explore the vastly untapped mineral deposits across the country, the Federal Government has concluded to partner with companies of Swedish origin, to utilise their technological expertise.The Swedish Ambassador listed challenges affecting investments in the country to include poor infrastructure with bad roads, paucity of funds for investors in the mining sector, environmental degradation, illegal mining and poor power supply.The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mohammed Musa Sada, said this decision was premised against the background that Swedish companies are the leading manufacturers of mining equipment in the world today and also have the technology that Nigeria requires to fast track the exploration of the country's vast mineral deposits.'We started looking out for partners to bring the type of technology that we require to work in this sector. We are very pleased with the Swedish companies, they are the leading manufacturers of some of the major mining equipment like drilling rigs, which is what we require in our next activities,' Sada said.He maintained that ' Atlas Copco, one of the Swedish companies, is the leading manufacturer of drilling rigs in the world'.The collaborating companies at the workshop are ABB, Atlas Copco, Sandvik and Volvo Construction Equipment.The Minister who spoke to Journalists in Abuja recently at the opening of a workshop on ' Investment Opportunities in the Nigerian Mining sector,' stated that with close to 10,000 mining licenses issued out to manufacturers in the solid Mineral 'each of these Licensee will require one type of rig or the other, or other exploration machines. These is just what we are trying to expose during the workshop, to all those that are willing to fully utilise the opportunities.'The Ambassador of Sweden, Per Lindgarde, said mining is a traditional industry in his country, with an extended history and therefore, a foundation has been laid for development of the sector in Nigeria. Because 'today, Sweden is the leading underground mining country in Europe and a global leader in underground technology.'Sweden's largest and most successful companies have provided the world's mining industry with machinery, equipment and power supply solutions and they mutually benefit from each other'.The ambassador lamented the 'lack of funding for investments in the mining sector, the poor infrastructure with the bad roads and insufficient power supply, degradation of the environment and illegal mining.'In a chat with The Guardian, he acknowledged that some of the equipment are quite expensive and some of the manufacturers might not be able to afford them.But one of the key issues in the two-day workshop is to fashion out a way for these companies to be able to lease out the equipment for hire by the manufacturers.'During the workshop also, there would be deliberations on how to come about these equipment. Some of them are very expensive; individuals might not be able to afford them. One of the reasons we are putting this together, is to also discuss ways in which the equipment will be made available to people that need them for hire. The possibility of hire-purchase an so on'.
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