Ministers of Mines in Africa, under the auspices of the African Mining Partnership (AMP), will meet in Abuja from Thursday August 23rd to review strategies for developing their countries’ mining sectors, the News Agency of Nigeria reported.
The theme of the meeting, to be hosted by Nigeria’s Ministry of Mines and Steel Development for the first time, is: “Optimising Africa’s mineral potentials for peace and prosperity.”
The AMP, which was launched in February 2004 in South Africa, was initiated by African Ministers of Mines to harmonise development efforts in mining within the continent.
Spokesman for Nigeria’s Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Clinton Oni, said the meeting would review the mid-term activities of the AMP and see how far it had gone in achieving its common goals.
He said the programmes to be reviewed included the “beneficiation of minerals”, which is the process of adding value to minerals.
“The meeting will also review the financing strategy that is appropriate to meet the needs of artisanal and small scale mining,” Oni said.
The meeting will also review the “development of a sustainable mining strategy for artisanal and small scale mining that would address health, safety and environmental hazards,” he added.
Members of the AMP committee include Nigeria, Ghana and Mali, while the secretariat is based in South Africa.
Others are Egypt, representing North Africa; Democratic Republic of Congo, representing Central Africa; Namibia, representing Southern Africa and Ethiopia, representing East Africa.
