The Solid Minerals Development Fund has announced a partnership with the Ores Reserves Development Forum to create a mining finance framework aimed at addressing the persistent challenges miners face in accessing funding for their operations. The collaboration seeks to strengthen investor confidence and enhance financial inclusion within Nigeria’s solid minerals sector.
The executive director of SMDF highlighted that limited investor trust in geological and project data remains one of the key barriers restricting the sector’s growth. In response, the Fund and ORDF are working together to convene a workshop that will bring together miners, financial institutions, government agencies, regulators, and industry experts to discuss the development of a sustainable mining finance system for Nigeria.
The ORDF emerged from a Geological Society of Nigeria roundtable focused on financing Nigerian mining assets, which convened technical, regulatory, financial, trade, and policy specialists to examine the structural barriers preventing the mining sector from reaching its potential. The partnership aims to link transparent geological reporting and project data with access to finance, ensuring investors have confidence in the sector’s opportunities.
The ORDF chairman noted that Nigeria’s solid minerals sector holds significant potential for driving economic growth but emphasised that many promising projects fail to attract funding due to the absence of reliable data. The proposed workshop is expected to create a collaborative platform where stakeholders can develop a transparent, consistent, and investor-ready system to support long-term sector development.
At the end of the workshop, a draft Mining Finance Framework will be prepared, refined by a technical working group composed of representatives from key institutions across the mining value chain. The discussions will focus on identifying constraints limiting mining finance, the role of financial institutions, and strategies to mitigate risks for both miners and investors. Standardised reporting systems and frameworks are expected to emerge as central tools to guide financing and project development.
Scheduled for December 9, the workshop will explore topics such as the role of mining finance in industrial development, fundamental reporting standards for mineral resources, and practical financing pathways from exploration to production. Policy, regulatory, and market incentives for mining will also be addressed, alongside strategies to strengthen transparency, risk management, and investment readiness across the sector.
Earlier in the year, the SMDF collaborated with the Nigerian Association of Securities Dealers to host webinars designed to deepen capital market participation in the mining industry. This latest initiative reinforces the Fund’s commitment to building a robust financial ecosystem that empowers miners, attracts private investment, and contributes to Nigeria’s broader economic diversification, presenting opportunities for MSMEs operating within the mining value chain.
