Patrick Fovie, is the Managing Director of Riverland Engineering Services Limited, an Indigenous mining company and one of the leading mining companies that has keyed into the lofty strides of President Bola Tinubu’s government pushing to deepen the solid minerals sector in Nigeria.

In this interview with Vanguard, he speaks on how the federal government can assist local miners reap the benefits in the mining sector.

Tell us about yourself, your educational background and how your entrepreneurship journey began?

I am Patrick Fovie, Managing Director of Riverland Engineering Services Limited, operators of the Goldstone mines located near Kabba, Kogi State. It’s an open pit mine with high yielded quality gold.

I graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University, where I bagged a BSC in Accounting and proceeded to the University of Benin for my MBA. I had a brief stint working in the banking sector.

‘I spent about a decade in Oceanic Bank, moving from Abeokuta, Lagos to Asaba and then Warri. After I Left the banking industry, I went into business. I established an oil servicing company, Riverland Engineering Services Limited.

The company needed growth and I had to venture into other areas for expansion.
We ventured into construction and started building projects for Estates ONE OF WHICH IS THE Delta Trust Estate in Ogor-Ughelli, Delta State.

That was the project we did before we acquired our operations license. After we got our operating license, we went into mining fully. We chose mining because it’s a new sector that is just budding and people need a reference like our company, which has done something similar, so we adopted the early investor initiative and got into it.

Since we had a prospect, we got a good site and ordered our machines. Presently we are running AN ALLUVIAL 100TPD process. An Alluvial process is one in which you get THE GOLD almost at the surface level without involving sophisticated processes and machinery.

In a recent interview, you revealed the existence of the NIGERIAN mining sector
prior to the advent of oil. Why did we break from the mining sector?

The break occurred basically because of two things I see as the core reasons: one was the indigenisation decree of 1974 in which the Federal Government, decreed that Nigerians should own 60% of every company without even putting out a dime IN INVESTMENT OR CAPITAL.

it was just a fiat law that made a lot of COMPANIES pull out FROM NIGERIA and when that law was repealed, a lot of them did not come back, THE SECOND REASON WAS the civil war that lasted FROM 1967 to the early part of 1970.

The Civil War pushed people away from investing in the economy because they saw it as a fragile economy.

Strife is a major scare to investors and investments, capital, IS one of the biggest cowards. Once capital hears or feels there is a crisis, it departs never to return. Most time looking from afar very consciously, you will understand that companies left due to the civil war.

Meanwhile, the last indigenisation decree passed made FOREIGNERS scared of FURTHER engaging in the mining sector. NIGERIANS did not fill the void that was left. Nigerians were already moving into crude oil and refineries WERE been built.

Moreso, crude oil, the way it works was a portfolio business for Nigerians, as a Nigerian, you need not do much, all that was required was for you to register a company, GET your documentation and you get a foreign partner. They would do the work while you SHARE the profit. So everyone was just focused on that, nobody wanted to take that extra time of going into mining.

In which you had to do exploration, process and the rest before you get to where you are. But for the case of oil, the exploration companies had already come down and explored and they were already producing. So most Nigerians decided instead of going into the rigorous path of mining, undermining how lucrative it was, they would prefer something less stressful, those were some of the reasons that mining couldn’t thrive then in Nigeria.

What do you think are the challenges when it comes to mining, the government have always wanted people to explore the sector, right from the Muhammed Buhari Government, particularly about people getting into the sector even with the activities of the artisanal miners in the sector?

The first challenge is the fact that people know very little about the sector. As it stands, those that know have some basic knowledge about mining are the artisanal miners and most of them are not educated, some can’t even speak English and they do artisanal mining on the surface level just to get something to keep them going.

These people don’t go deep into standard mining, there IS just one company so far, which is in Osun State. Segilola Resources Operating limited who built a standard plant. THEY ARE reaping tremendously from the investment THeY made. So if people have better knowledge of mining they will be more inclined to go into it.

“The other part that scares people away from it is the ISSUE of insecurity. In some parts OF Nigeria, there are security challenges. Segilola has been producing for three years prior to that they were exploring and BUILDING. However, there have not BEEN recorded cases of attack or kidnap. ” Insecurity Is not blanket OVER every part of Nigeria. where I am located there is no insecurity, kudos to the past and present governors as well as the security architecture, reactions to threat of peace have been swift and severe. Kogi West is peaceful Everything goes well, the natives are living harmoniously with my workers and visitors. Right now there is SOME insecurity in the North West part in Nigeria but the Nigerian army is dealing with it.

‘The ARMY don’t blow their trumpet BUT We see AND READ OF how they HAVE decimated the insurgents, the Air Force from the air and the army are on the ground.

Additionally, the insurgent’s issues people fear in mining are just a matter of time. It would go away in as much as we protect ourselves when we go for mining.

‘ In some cases, it’s not as bad as it is portrayed. It’s not as if it’s all over Nigeria as it sounds because there are still companies doing business in the sector. Just to hit the point There is Mosra Energy, they HAVE BEEN supplying coal to cement companies for more than a decade.

The volume of business they do is a very serious business. They are based in Delta and Kogi state. So while people are shying away from mining people are making a fortune.

I know OF a company that has deposits of the highest quality lithium (about 7-8%). Lithium is a mineral that , between 1-2 percent is okay but the comapny has this high grade in large quantities in Nasarawa State
” when people ask me about mining, I advise them – if they can, they should learn and also key in now that the space is still very open for them to come in.

Within the mining sector there is this challenge people have in terms of getting finance and reaching out to investors due to the returns on investments that don’t come immediately.

Well, you are correct, in mining the returns don’t come immediately, it takes some time, like two years or three years before they start coming. Also. There is THE case of trust Which lack of enlightenment causes, suspicion of impropiety among parties involved. If a potential investor knows how it works there will be less suspicion, for you to do mining.

The initial cost is always intensive. I would suggest financial institutions should formulate or find a way to get people to fund the project and then share the profit. That’s the only way, not just individuals alone that should come together to pull resources together and fund it. IN CANADA, THE FINANCE INDUSTRY DEVELOPED A SPECIAL INSTRUMENT FOR MINERS TO RAISE MONEY IN THE EXCHANGE, THESE ARE KNOWN AS “FLOW-THROUGH SHARES”

The financial institution can make mining more inclusive by spreading the wealth to all Nigerians that key in. So the finance institutions such as Àva capital, Chapel Hill DENHAM etc must bring up programs and/ or packages that sell this sector.
For instance back in the days in the United Kingdom, when an adventurer/explorer is to embark on an expedition, they announce it ‘Through the financial institution to create awareness.

The Banks (Barclays in particular) advertise that they need investors, and people to put in their contributions. The finance for the expedition is raised, and handed over to the sailors do they set sail. When they RETURN they come with the spoils, exotic goods, produce and treasures which they sell and share.. Human behaviour is not dynamic, it’s the same CYCLE in a different context, now we’re not going to another land to look for treasures. We have to come together to raise our finances and go into the ground. We already have the machine here, the ages of some of the rocks show that there are more than enough gemstones you can get.

What does it mean by ages of the rocks?

When we say the age of rock it has to do with the geology OF when these rocks WERE FORMED, which is the Precambrian era. The Precambrian era comes with a lot of igneous rocks which have bioTITe, this BIOTITES cOme along with TOURMALINE,BERYL, MICA, WOFRAMITE, columbiTe and TANTALITE. Columbine and titanite are the minerals used for rechargeable batteries and the rest. Also for mobile phones.

So we have a plethora of these but we do not have the machines to get it out, that’s the problem, we need a special wash to separate the WOFRAMITE from the ganGE(waste material). For it to be suitable for utilisation or export.

There has been an outcry by the UN about the effect of mining activities on host communities due to environmental impact. It is very severe because mining companies always leave the host community worse than they met it. How do we tackle this plight?

The Government has been able to address the issue. They have made the host
community, agree with companies engaging in mining activities to develop those areas. AND OFFER compensation for relocation or altercation done to the host community environment.

Also, as part of the criteria you must meet before you are given a license. a community agreement must be in place. in that agreement, you will state what you would provide for the community, to improve the quality of life of the people, The development could include scholarship awards to the youths of the community, establish cooperative farms, sinking of bore holes, BUILDING OR RENOVATION OF SCHOOLS OR HEALTH CENTERS and also state a reclamation PLAN AT THE END OF MINE LIFE..

Furthermore, every standard mine has what we call a tailing facility. It is a sustaining plan. That is when you mine, you bring from the ground the sand, this sand is supposed to be stockpiled in a certain place, that is what tailingS is all about. Although, it’s expensive it has to done because it’s part of what you write before you get your Environmental Impact Assessment approved. So when the mines end, because every mine has a lifetime span, sometimes it could be about ten years, while some up to fifty years. The place is made green again by returning that waste material back and then you encourage the cooperative you have formed to start farming in that particular place.

Tell us about the prospect of Riverland engineering services in the long term and how it would be creating values and what you intend to do?

We will become A multi-mining company. We have started with Gold, but Gold isn’t the only mineral we intend to explore because when you see gold it doesn’t go alone it goes with COPPER or silver and nickel sometimes.

Meanwhile, on our site, we have lithium, which we have not started exploring. There is a lot of iron ore in Kogi State. Naturally, Kogi has one of the greatest amounts of iron in Nigeria. As a multi-mining firm, we intend to start processing coPper, as we progress with our Gold exploring experience.

The demand for copper is rising by the day because everything is going digital and electronic right now. Copper is about NINE thousand dollars a tonne but it has been projected, that between 2030 and 2040 it would be about forty thousand dollars a tonne.

Aside from the fact that we would leave an impact on the communities where we have operated.. We would ensure we don’t employ community locals as casual labour, we would train them to upskill them, so they can take over the jobs of those that work as professionals with us.

For those who are into farming, we would ensure they trained. We would empower them by providing seedlings for planting. We would teach them through extension workers, how to do mechanized farming. And whatever empowerment we give to them, they can build on it We would leave them after two years. It becomes theirs and we have had a series of meetings with the traditional rulers and the community members, at large on what we have in mind for them.

This is in line with the Federal Government directives on Community development Agreement, which is renewable every five years. So every five years we would review the agreement and make more improvements for the development of that community.

As an organization, we consider such agreements favourable because it help the firm to plan the mining budget and expenditure. Moreso, SOME communities do not trust the firm. They are usually suspicious of those that come from outside their community. For instance, some believe they are been used to achieve other people’s goals. So they need an assurance that their benefits will get to them. when you acquaint them, with your intentions
there would be a synergy and everything would work well together for everyone.

Furthermore, you ought to let them know by educating them about the process IN MINING There are about 5 stages of metal mining which ARE 1) Pegs on the ground. 2) Boots on the field, 3) FIRE IN THE HOLE 4) metal in the smelt and 5) Bullion in hand

Can you share with us some of the challenges that local miners like yourself face in the mining sector?

One of the biggest challenges local miners faces is access to finance. It is often difficult for them to secure loans from financial institutions to invest in mining equipment and technology, that would help them increase our productivity and profitability. Additionally, the lack of technical expertise and proper training in modern mining practices hinders the ability to compete with larger mining companies.

How do you think the Federal Government can assist local miners in reaping the benefits of the mining sector?

The Federal Government can play a significant role in supporting local miners by providing access to affordable financing through initiatives such as low-interest loans and grants tailored specifically for small-scale miners.

Additionally, the government can establish training programs and workshops to educate local miners on modern mining practices and safety standards.

Moreover, creating a conducive regulatory environment that promotes transparency and accountability in the mining sector would also benefit local miners by reducing illegal mining activities and promoting sustainable mining practices