Nigeria, Saudi Arabia in deal on iron ore extraction

The Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have established a partnership to extract iron ore and process steel in Nigeria.

The partnership was initiated by the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, and the Deputy Minister of Minerals and Energy of Saudi Arabia, Khalid Al-Musdaifer.

This is contained in a statement by the Special Adviser to the minister, Kehinde Bamigbetan, on Monday in Abuja.

The partnership aims to leverage Nigeria’s indigenous mineral resources to drive industrialisation, in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda.

Alake emphasised the importance of extracting and beneficiating iron ore into steel in Nigeria, which would command higher prices compared to exporting raw ores.

He said that Saudi Arabia, with its well-established steel industry, was interested in sourcing iron ore from Nigeria.

According to him, a follow-up meeting is scheduled to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the Future Metals Forum in January 2025.

The minister also met with other investors at the Resourcing Tomorrow event, aiming to boost sustained mining investment in Nigeria.