Nigeria plans to invest $7 billion in mining and Steel

Nigeria is planning to invest $7 billion in mining and steel over the next decade in order to develop gold and iron ore extraction industries. To meet its annual steel demand of 6.8 million metric tons is one of the government’s priorities, Bloomberg reported.It is expected that $5 billion will kick-start the mining sector and roduction of iron ore, lead, zinc, bitumen, nickel, coal and gold at a serious scale is also expected to start in two to five years. Companies considering investments in Nigeria’s mining sector include Lagos-based Multiverse Mining & Exploration Plc and Kogi Iron Ltd., based in West Perth, Australia.In order to bring back  Ajaokuta, a steel complex which was supposed to have an installed capacity of 5 million tons of steel a year, Nigeria will require about $2 billion. When it was taken over by Global Steel Holdings in 2004, it still hadn’t produced any steel.Global Steel’s concession was revoked in 2008. After an eight-year legal dispute, it was agreed on August 3 this year that the government will take over Ajaokuta while the Indian firm retains Nigeria Iron Ore Mining Company, which it will rehabilitate to supply the steel mill within two years.