< Go Back

External Advisor

Hajiya. Fatima Umaru Shinkafi is the current Chief Executive of the Solid Minerals Development Fund. Hajiya Fatima has extensive knowledge of
the mining sector, with previous experience spearheading the re- structuring of artisanal miners and cooperatives in the key gold producing region. The Solid Minerals Development Fund is a Government-owned Fund established to drive investments in Nigeria’s mining sector.

As a funding vehicle, SMDF’s key role is to maximize recovery of mining investments to drive sector growth, the Fund is currently responsible for implementing Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative (PAGMI). Over US$500-600m of projects have been identified that SMDF could drive across formalization, data development, production and processing in the next 5 years.

Most notable of the SMDF achievement under the leadership of Hajiya Fatima is the Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative under PAGMI
thousands of artisanal miners and several cooperatives have been formalized through biometric enrolment in key gold-producing areas for the development of a gold trading value chain that meets international standards.

In July 2020, For the first time in the history of the nation PAGMI produced artisanal mined gold bullion bars of London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) standard for accretion to our foreign reserves through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), this was unveiled at the presentation ceremony to His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari.