The Federal Government and the World Bank are collaborating to reposition the country’s solid minerals sector through manpower capacity building.

Already, 50 gemstone miners have been trained on skill acquisition, as part of government’s resolve to professionalise the sector and boost local production of the resource. Dr Linus Adie, Project Coordinator, Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources Project, Ministry of Solid Minerals, told The Tide’s source  in Abuja that miners were trained on the fundamentals of gemstone and mineral specimen mining.

He described gemstone mining as a high risk venture, adding that the training also included basic First Aid treatment and general safety methods. Adie said the programme was a train–the-trainer project aimed at empowering the relevant personnel to enable them to impart the knowledge on others.

“With the training, the miners have gained a better understanding on the geology and mineralogy of gem deposits, the types and usage of mining equipment, methods of explosives and blasting as well as and mineral dressing’’ he added.

Adei explained that the trade, which was carried out by artisanal and small scale miners, was in the past categorised as substandard, noting that the skill acquisition would also entrench professionalism in the sector.

He said the ministry, under the $120 million World Bank assisted scheme, had also empowered selected mining communities and cooperatives, through the acquisition of tools and machineries. The coordinator also announced that a Danish agency had been engaged to build the capacity of Artisanal and Small Scale Mining (ASM) operators for best global practices in the sector.

The training, he added, was in line with the 2007 Mines and Minerals Act, which “emphasised the need for capacity building mechanism to expand the sub-sector’’.

Adie said that ASM operators in the country utilised manual and low technology equipment, which makes their operations hazardous with severe consequences on the environment and structures where such activities were carried out.

“The initiative is aimed at structuring the informal operations of ASM into sustainable livelihood activities that can create jobs and wealth in rural areas,’’ he said.

Adie said the training would be conducted in the six geo-political zones of the country.

The Tide’s source  reports that the Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources Project is a World Bank assisted programme, established in 2006 to promote development in the country’s solid minerals sector.