By FRANCISCA OLUYOLE

Mr Julian Hammond, Director, Aurelia Mining Limited, based in the United Kingdom (UK), says the company will invest 100 million U.S. dollars in Gold mining in Nigeria.

Hammond made this known when he led a delegation on a courtesy visit to the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr Olamilekan Adegbite, on Monday in Abuja.

He said that Aurelia group’s visits to Nigeria was to start preliminary and testing, known as drilling, to ascertain the quantity of gold available and also woo other mining investors to Nigeria.

“We came to Nigeria to access mining project; the company will commence small mining operation with five to 10 million dollars first.

“With time, if the gold deposit is big as expected, we will invest about 100 million dollars for the period of 10 to 15 years.

“This is early stage; we need to do our assessment and appraisal to get much better idea of quantity of mineral needed.

“We are planning to commence preliminary mining operation in Nigeria in the next six months.

“We wanted to get an idea about the ministry’s impression as well, but we were received with open arms which encouraged us that Nigeria is the right place to invest.

“We are pleased to tell investors in the United Kingdom and Canada that Nigeria is the right place to invest in Africa because we will get more support and confidence from the Government,’’ he said.

Responding, Adegbite said that Nigeria had recorded success in mining through Segilola Gold Resources, a Canadian company conducting gold exploration in Osun.

He said that Nigeria delegation had showcased Nigeria minerals at different mining fora in Canada, London and South Africa to encourage and woo investors to Nigeria.

“We are encouraging foreign companies to come to Nigeria and invest in mining because the Federal Government has done lots of exploration on gold and other minerals to acquire data, making Nigeria a mining destination.

“Today, we have recorded a success story that is worth celebrating and hope we will have more of this success stories. (NAN)

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