TheCable

The federal government has flagged off the construction of a gold processing cluster, located in Mopa-Muro local government area (LGA) of Kogi state.

Speaking during the groundbreaking ceremony of the project on Tuesday, Oluwatoyin Akinlade, permanent secretary, federal ministry of mines and steel development, said the initiative is part of efforts to diversify the economy and reduce the country’s dependency on oil resources.

“The ministry of mines and steel development has commenced the implementation of programmes aimed at establishing and accelerating mineral value chain activities through the development of a mineral mining cluster in each of the six geopolitical zones.

“The objective of the project is to assemble and coordinate the activities of the artisanal and small scale miners in the identified areas based on the identified mineral type for each geopolitical zone.

“The mining cluster is to provide common facilities and coordinated activities to enable easy formalization of the artisanal miners in the identified zones and avail them an opportunity for mineral value addition, as well as creation of market access.

“Furthermore, the cluster shall be adequately equipped with state of the art equipment for the purpose of imparting modern morning expertise and knowledge into the teeming youths across north central zone. Provision shall also be made for heavy equipment such as excavators leasing by the artisan miners.”

Akinlade added that the project is expected to be commissioned by ending of June, then it would fully begin operations.

In his remarks, Yahaya Bello, Kogi state governor, represented at the event by Kingsley Fanwo, the state commissioner for information, said the facility will create jobs and make Kogi the “economic hub of the country.”

“It will increase the trading of the state. This underscores the economic blueprint of the state government in making the state a giant amongst other states in term of industrialization,” he said.