By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The Federal government has performed a groundbreaking ceremony of the Gold Processing Cluster, located in Mopa, Mopamuro Local Government Area of Kogi State.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Dr. Oluwatoyin Akinlade, performed the event on Tuesday.
Akinlade said the project was part of the government’s efforts at refocusing the economy from heavily depending on oil.
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He said, “The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development has commenced the implementation of programmes aimed at establishing and accelerating mineral value chain activities through the development of a Mineral Mining cluster in each of the six geopolitical zone.
“The objective of the project is to assembly and coordinate the activities of the artisanal and small scale miners in the identified areas based on the identified mineral type for each geopolitical zone.
“Furthermore, the cluster shall be adequately equipped with state of the art equipment for the purpose of imparting modern morning expertise and knowledge into the teeming youths across north Central zone. Provision shall also be made for heavy equipment such as excavators leasing by the artisan miners.”
The Permanent Secretary added that the project was expected to be commissioned by June, Vanguard reports.
Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello, while speaking at the event, said the state government would consolidate on the gold processing cluster in diversifying the economy of the state.
