Fed Govt introduces new rates for solid minerals
In an attempt to position the Solid materials sector for economic consolidation and international competitiveness, the federal government yesterday announced a new regime of rates and charges for its various services; 268 items of the Ministry’s services are affected in the new rate regime.
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, said that the new rates which takes immediate effect, comes on the heels of the introduction of qualitative measures, human and technological capacity upgrades implemented in recent times to raise the level of technical efficiency of the services in the sector.
He further said the new regime which also includes royalties and penalties are designed to improve the traffic of transactions and develop infrastructure to cope with the resurgence of business interests in the sector.
In arriving at the new rates, the Minister said a committee of the Directors of Departments and Directors-General of agencies under the ministry was charged to work out new rates to justify government’s’ investment in the service infrastructure and to cope with the expected meteoric spike in the traffic of applicants besieging the regulatory machinery. All critical stakeholders in the sector were involved in the process before arriving at the new rate regime.
The Minister listed the major highlights of the new rate regime to include: applicants seeking for mining leases, N3 million; reconnaissance permit, N300,000; exploration license, N600,000; small scale mining license, N300,000; quarry lease, N600,000 and water user permit, N300,000.
Still, he said the annual service fee is now N31,500 per cadastral unit for the first time, small-scale mining attracts N260,000; quarry lease, N500,000 and mining lease, N1.25 million.
“Penalties for late renewal of mineral licenses: reconnaissance permit, N600,000; exploration license, N1.5 million; mining lease, N3 million and quarry lease, N1.5 million.
“Royalty rate per standard weight of minerals will now cost 100 percent more. Baryte, with N42,000 as market value per tonne, attracts N2,100 royalty; Coal, with N100,000 per tonne, attracts N3,000; Gold, with N1,081,200 per ounce as market value, attracts N36,436 royalty per tonne; Lead/Zinc concentrate, with N480,000 per tonne as market value, attracts a royalty of N14,400 per tonne.”
Others are “Lithium Ore (Lepidolite) at the current market value of N600,000 per tonne attracts N18,000 royalty per tonne; Lithium (Kunzite) at the current market value of N3 million per tonne attracts N90,000 royalty per tonne; and Lithium ore (Spodumene) at the current market value of N316,667 per tonne attracts N9,500 royalty per tonne.
“The license to manufacture explosives now costs N20 million; modifying explosives costs N10 million; and the sale of explosives for mining costs N500,000.
“Investors willing to obtain a license to refine gold will pay N5 million, and a permit to operate a mineral processor costs N100, 000.
“Mineral resources map of Nigeria will cost N500,000, and the geological map of Nigeria now costs N300,000.”
Oniorgbo power plant set for inauguration
The Onirogbo 80 Kwp Solar PV hybrid mini grid located in Odigbo Local Government in Ondo State is set to be inaugurated on Wednesday. The Project was designed by Tripple E, utilising 100 per cent equity funding, will be inaugurated by the Acting Managing Director, Rural Electricity Agency (REA), Abubakar Aliyu, while the Special Adviser to the Ondo State Governor on Energy, Johnson Alabi, as well as the Ekiti State Commissioner for Infrastructure and Public Utilities, Professor Bolaji Aluko, including the Chief Executive of Tripple E Systems Associate Limited, Professor Felix Dayo, will be present at the event.
The project was completed last May and the community will enjoy electricity supply as well as other villages. The estimated population of the community is about 1,000 who are mostly farmers.
The company would also kick off a 1MW Solar PV Hybrid Power plant for Charis Innovative Fabrication Ltd., Ondo city, Ondo State. Charis Innovative Fabrication Ltd., a Greenfield Nigerian company contracted Triple E to develop the energy supply infrastructure for its Greenfield pressure vessel fabrication factory for the Oil and Gas Industry that will be sited in Ondo city, Ondo State, Nigeria.
The work achieved so far for the power system of the factory which will commence construction in the middle of the next quarter of 2024 (July – September) is a state-of-the-art Solar PV Hybrid Power System with the following: a 1MWp Solar PV Rooftop/Farm System; an integrated 1300kWh battery backup and a 1 MWp standby Propane generator.
In addition to these two projects, the company said it has engaged in detailed discussion with three tertiary institutions in designing and implementing sustainable energy solutions for them. These institutions are Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU) Osun State; Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State and Elizade University, Ondo State.
Tripple E Systems Associate Limited (Tripple E) was incorporated in Nigeria in 1992 as an Engineering and Consulting firm to provide services in the area of Energy System, Environmental Evaluation, Engineering Designs, and computer Applications.
