Bawa Bwari said in an interview on the sidelines of the recent Africa Downunder conference in Perth, increased recognition of Nigeria's latent mineral endowment - inside and outside the country - and fresh exploration successes, continued to open up wider industry development possibilities.
The potentially highly significant Titan nickel find by Australia's Comet Minerals, for example, was "to us … a pleasant surprise", the minister of state for solid minerals said, that fed hopes for development of local stainless steel production to support wider economic change.
"Nickel was not one of the targeted minerals" in the formative economic blueprint of the government as it set out to diversify Nigeria's oil-dependent economic base, boost government revenues, and "c...
