Segilola Gold Mine, Nigeria’s first and largest industrial-scale gold mine owned by the Canadian mineral exploration company, Thor Explorations Limited poured its first gold from the mine in Osun state on Friday.
This was disclosed in a statement by Thor Explorations, reported by Bloomberg.
This represents a major step towards diversifying and maximizing Nigeria’s gold mineral reserves. The Canadian company has spent $100 million to build the mine, while Africa Finance Corp, its largest shareholder, provided $86 million in debt and equity financing.
READ: Nigeria’s first and largest industrial-scale gold mine set to be completed in first half of 2021
The company added that the plant, which will now ramp up over the next six weeks, is targeting an output of 85,000 ounces a year, which is still below African gold mining outputs from the two biggest gold projects in Africa – Barrick Gold Corp’s Kibali in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Loulo-Gounkoto in Mali – which produced 808,000 ounces and 680,000 ounces respectively in 2020, according to Bloomberg.
Minister of Mines Olamilekan Adegbite also disclosed on Friday that Segilola Mine “proves to the mining world that Nigeria is the next big frontier mining destination,” adding that it is a testament to the Buhari’s administration drive to diversify the economy through the mining sector.
READ: Nigerian-Canadian company to start gold export from Nigeria in June 2021
What you should know
Recall Nairametrics reported earlier this year that Segilola Gold Mine, Nigeria’s first and largest industrial-scale gold mine owned by the Canadian mineral exploration company, Thor Explorations Limited, is set to be completed in the first half of 2021.
The gold mine tagged “Segilola” is a high-grade gold project being developed in Osun state, Nigeria. It is expected to hasten Nigeria’s economic diversification and reduce unemployment among the youth populace.
Thor Explorations Limited announced that a set of encouraging drill results from its in-pit and extensional diamond core drilling program revealed that the gold mine is on course to pour its first gold in Q2 2021.
