Exclusive interview with Rapidlink Group, a silver sponsor at the upcoming Nigeria Mining Week in Abuja in October.
Let’s start with some background on Rapidlink Group, your activities and your aims for the Nigerian mining sector?
Rapidlink Group of Companies is a holding company incorporated under the Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We are an indigenous, 100% Nigerian owned company with interest in Maritime, Oil & Gas; Construction and Energy; Solid Minerals Prospecting, Exploration, Mining and Consultancy Services. The company has offices and operational bases in Abuja, Lagos, Nigeria’s foremost business and industrial city, Apapa, Warri, Port Harcourt, Eket and Calabar – important seaports and oil cities in Nigeria; Pointe Noire and Brazzaville in Republic of Congo; Accra and Tema in Ghana. We offer cost effective services adapted to specific needs of our clients.
The group is made up of:
Our aim is to partner with the government to continue to de-risk the Nigeria mining sector as much as possible with a view to attracting huge and sustainable investments in the sector. This will ultimately lead to huge foreign investments, create jobs and aid the development of the socioeconomic development of the country at large.
Any specific exciting projects that you are involved in at the moment that you can share?
YES! Rapidlink Resources Limited under the auspices of the National Integrated Mineral Exploration Project (NIMEP) and funded by the Federal Ministry of Mines and Solid Mineral Development (MMSD) is undertaken an exploration programme to generate geoscience information on the nature and mineralization of Rare Earth Metals/Minerals – Cassiterite(Sn), Tantalite(Ta), Niobium(Nb), Lithium(Li), etc, for investment decision. The program will run through the process of exploration down to drilling and resource verification using cutting edge technology and approach. The procedures are being carried out according to international best practices and reporting made according to internationally recognized reporting codes: JORC (ASX), SAMREC (JSE), NI43-101 (TSX).
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your operations so far?
It has slowed us down a bit, especially the field work. As we implement the COVID-19 safety measures, we are unable to continue having teams of geologists working on the field. We also had to discontinue our prep-lab and sample analysis programme. However, data capturing and analysis is ongoing as we work from home in some instances.
At Rapidlink Resources, we place safety first in all we do and we are confident that the programme will continue in full swing when the pandemic is brought under some control worldwide.
How excited are you about the opportunities in Nigeria’s mining sector?
Very excited!
As we all already know, Nigeria is sitting on a gold mine. The mining sector in Nigeria remains largely untapped. With what is happening to the international crude oil prices, there cannot be a better opportunity for investments in the Nigerian mining sector which experts say less than 10% have been harnessed.
Why the decision to partner with Nigeria Mining Week? Is the event important for the industry do you think?
Yes. The event is important to the Nigerian mining industry. Yearly, this event brings together experts, scholars, academia, financial institutions, equipment owners, captains of industry, government functionaries, key decision makers, artisanal miners and all relevant parties in the mining industry to discuss and proffer better ways to move the industry forward and more importantly attract foreign investors and expertise.
Rapidlink Resources Limited is excited to be part of this and lend our support to make this happen with the ultimate goal of putting Nigeria in the community of nations tapping into their solid mineral potentials while developing the enormous human capital.
RapidLink has also partnered with Nigeria Mining Week’s Digital Event. Why was this important to you?
The Corona Virus pandemic has naturally moved the world forward towards the inevitable situation of using digital technology to handle all human affairs. The world is changing and we now have a new phrase “New Normal”. It is important for us as individuals, companies, organizations’ and governments to adjust or be left behind.
The Nigeria Mining Week Digital Event, I believe, is probably the first of its kind and we should be a part of it as we as an organization have been thinking “Digitally” for years now. We believe the event will deliver on its goals and probably have more attendance than we’ve had with physical events. Moreso, we in Rapidlink have been partnering with the mining sector to Harness Nigeria’s Viable Alternative Mineral Resources as one focal point for the Federal government.
What will be Rapid Link’s message at Nigeria Mining Week this year?
The Board, Management and Staff of Rapidlink Resources Limited welcomes all participants to this year’s Nigeria Mining Week.
It is our earnest desire that this yearly conference will continue to impact and add value to the mining sub sector of the Nigerian economy. Some, if not most of the participants, gathered for this conference would have also been attendees to the Mining Indaba and PDAC Canada. We strongly advocate that all these experiences and challenges being discussed will result in proffering home grown solutions tailored to our specific needs as it relates to opening our mining sector to the world while maintaining international best practices.
We join others to call on the Federal and State government to do all within her powers to “De-Risk” this sector by not only providing the necessary funding and availability of large geosciences data, but also creating the enabling environment for investors to the sector.
Nigeria is a key emerging destination in the African mining ecosystem, and Nigeria Mining Week is where professionals go to create new opportunities and connections within the industry.
NIGERIA MINING WEEK CONFERENCE 2024
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