The Federal Government has disclosed that operations have begun at a high-purity gold refinery in Lagos, with three more refineries under development nationwide and a $600 million lithium processing facility in Nasarawa State ready for commissioning, marking significant progress in mineral value addition.
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, said the developments reflect concrete gains from the administration’s policy shift away from raw mineral exports toward domestic processing, while strengthening Nigeria’s standing in Africa’s minerals value chain and global energy transition.
He added that the projects demonstrate the country’s ambition to become a strategic partner in the supply of critical minerals, particularly those required for clean-energy technologies and industrial growth.
Alake disclosed this on Tuesday during talks with Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Ibrahim Al-Khorayef, held ahead of the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, according to a statement by his media aide, Segun Tomori.
“Nigeria’s value-addition policy is already yielding tangible results, with a gold refining plant of very high purity now operational in Lagos, three additional gold refineries at various stages of development, and a $600 million lithium processing plant in Nasarawa State ready for commissioning,” the minister said.
He said Nigeria was keen to deepen cooperation with Saudi Arabia by leveraging areas of comparative strength, especially in skills development, technology transfer and mineral exploration, noting that structured partnerships would deliver mutual benefits.
“Priority areas include capacity building, training of mining professionals, technology transfer, and particularly exploration, where Saudi Arabia has demonstrated some expertise,” Alake added, while also highlighting mineral traceability, ESG standards and mine-pit remediation as key collaboration areas.
Al-Khorayef, in his remarks, reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s longstanding ties with Nigeria and proposed that a joint working group draft a memorandum of understanding from previous engagements for possible signing at the forum, while urging Nigeria to showcase mining investment opportunities to Saudi investors.
