The Solid Minerals Development Fund has announced a partnership with the Ores Reserves Development Forum to create a mining finance framework that will help address the challenges miners face in accessing funding for their operations. The executive director of SMDF, Fatima Shinkafi, revealed this in a statement released by her technical adviser, Abdulmajeed Amussah, on Monday in Abuja.
Amussah explained that financing remains one of the biggest challenges in the sector, largely due to limited investor confidence in geological and project data. He said the SMDF and ORDF are committed to closing this gap. As part of the effort, both organisations are collaborating to host a workshop for miners, financial institutions, regulators, government agencies, and industry professionals on the theme Building a Sustainable Mining Finance System for Nigeria.
According to the statement, the ORDF emerged from the Geological Society of Nigeria Roundtable 2.0, which examined the barriers slowing down the development of Nigeria’s solid minerals sector. The roundtable brought together experts from technical, regulatory, trade, and financial fields to discuss ways to unlock the country’s mineral potential. Amussah said the ongoing collaboration aims to strengthen the link between geological reporting, transparency, and access to finance.
In his remarks, the chairman of ORDF, Uba Malami, said the mining sector holds strong potential to boost Nigeria’s economic growth but stressed that coordinated efforts are required to fully harness it. He said many promising mining projects fail to secure funding because investors struggle to trust the available project data. Malami said, “This workshop will enable stakeholders to work together to build a transparent and reliable system that supports investment and long-term sector development.”
Amussah stated that a draft Mining Finance Framework will be produced at the end of the workshop. This draft will be reviewed and refined by a technical working group made up of representatives from key institutions in the mining value chain. He said the workshop is expected to identify the major constraints affecting mining finance in Nigeria and improve understanding of the role played by financial institutions in the sector.
He added that participants will also develop recommendations for incentives that can reduce risks for miners and investors. These include standardised reporting systems and frameworks that will guide the sector in the next phase. The workshop, set for December 9, will cover areas such as the role of mining finance in industrial development, mineral resource reporting standards, and the financing pathway from exploration to production.
It will also explore the policy, regulatory, and market incentives needed to improve mining activities, along with the practical design of an efficient mining finance system. Participants will be guided on data and reporting requirements for accessing finance and introduced to due diligence expectations as projects advance. The programme aims to strengthen transparency, risk mitigation, and investment readiness across the mining finance ecosystem.
Earlier in the year, the SMDF partnered with the Nigerian Association of Securities Dealers on the OTC Securities Exchange to organise webinars focused on increasing capital market participation in Nigeria’s mining sector.
