SMDF-EMERGE: Nigeria launches grant to fund mineral exploration, research and value addition

Organised by the Solid Minerals Development Fund (SMDF), the event unveiled the missing link in Nigeria’s mining ecosystem: structured funding for exploration, research, and early-stage project development.

What is EMERGE?

A grant programme with an agenda

EMERGE is not a loan, a subsidy, or a vague government pledge. It is a competitively awarded grant facility funded and implemented by the SMDF, with global professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) serving as its independent programme administration partner.

It operates across three distinct funding streams, each designed to tackle a specific choke point in Nigeria’s mining value chain.

What exactly is EMERGE funding?

Inside EMERGE: what the programme actually funds

EMERGE is structured around three distinct funding streams, each designed to tackle a specific gap in Nigeria’s mining value chain.

• 01

  Mineral Exploration

  The first stream focuses on early-stage geological exploration, including mapping, surveying, and drilling activities that generate the data required by investors.

• 02

  Critical Minerals Development

  The second stream targets critical minerals such as lithium and rare earth elements, which are increasingly central to global energy transition technologies including batteries, electric vehicles, and renewable energy systems.

• 03

  Research & Development

  The third stream supports research and development in Nigerian universities, funding postgraduate studies in geoscience, mineral processing, and related fields.

The research component stood out as one of the most innovative aspects of EMERGE, linking academia directly with industrial development.

What the speakers said

The keynote came from the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, who used the occasion to both celebrate the programme’s launch and draw a sharp line between what this administration inherited and where it now stands.

He came with numbers. Under what his ministry calls the Seven-Point Agenda for the sector, federation revenue from solid minerals climbed from roughly N16 billion in 2023 to N38 billion in 2024, and has already surpassed N70 billion in 2025 – a 337 per cent increase in two years. New investment commitments have reached approximately $2.6 billion since 2023, including lithium processing plants and a rare earth facility.

But the defining message of the keynote was not the output figures. It was the shift in focus from extraction to science.

He described EMERGE as the first time Nigeria has offered dedicated grant funding for geoscience and mineral-processing research, a signal he said is a fundamental shift in how the government views the sector: not just as a source of raw exports, but as the foundation of an industrial economy.

Breakthroughs in lithium processing, gold refining, and rare earth development need not happen in foreign laboratories. With the right funding at the right stage, they can happen here.

How EMERGE works

For her part, SMDF Executive Secretary Hajia Fatima Umaru Shinkafi took a more technical angle, walking attendees through how EMERGE fits into a broader investment architecture that the Fund has been building over several years.

She pointed to the AFC-SMDF Project Development Facility, a joint initiative with the Africa Finance Corporation, as evidence that EMERGE is not a standalone gesture but the critical first rung of a full financing ladder.

She described EMERGE as a competitively awarded grant facility created to address one of the most persistent gaps in the minerals sector: the chronic shortage of early-stage financing that has prevented promising projects from progressing beyond the exploration phase.

Shinkafi explained that the programme is not a standalone gesture but the first stage in a broader investment pathway developed by SMDF. Early exploration and research funded through EMERGE feeds into the AFC-SMDF Project Development Facility before progressing to large-scale private investment and production.

According to her, that coordinated framework ensures mining projects are supported from the earliest geological survey through to commercial scale. She also stressed that reliable data sits at the heart of the entire model.

The original report also links to Hajia Fatima Umaru Shinkafi’s full speech and includes a clip from her interview on the transformative potential of the SMDF EMERGE initiative.

Who can apply

Senior Manager at PwC, Oyekemi Ajayi, addressed concerns about who qualifies and how applications will be evaluated. She confirmed that the research and development stream is open to Master’s and PhD researchers, university departments, and research institutions operating within Nigeria.

Eligible grant expenses include fieldwork, accommodation, laboratory testing, and research materials. She was firm that the evaluation process would be objective – the same commitment echoed by the minister.

Applications are assessed on a rolling, first-come, first-served basis. The SMDF has confirmed that the research stream formally opens on 10 July 2025.

Visit smdf.gov.ng for full guidelines and submission details.

Who attended and what it means

The gathering was notably cross-sectoral. Seated in the hall were the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Solid Minerals, Senator Sampson Ekong, alongside the Chairman of the House Committee on Solid Minerals, Honourable Gaza Jonathan Gbefwi, a signal that the legislature is aligned with the programme’s direction.

Stakeholders from the Central Bank of Nigeria were also present, reflecting the sector’s growing connection to foreign reserves policy, following the SMDF’s delivery of responsibly sourced, internationally certified gold to the CBN.

Mining companies, researchers, and entrepreneurs rounded out the room, many of them the very people the programme is designed to fund.

In interviews at the event, participants highlighted funding as one of the biggest challenges facing Nigeria’s mining sector and welcomed SMDF EMERGE as an initiative that could help bridge those gaps by providing both funding opportunities and technical support.

One participant from Abia State pointed to the state’s rich mineral potential, including gold and other valuable resources that remain largely untapped. He noted that turning those resources into economic opportunities requires investment.

What attendees said

The energy at the event was difficult to miss. This was not a routine government function. Attendees arrived with questions, and many left with a cautious but genuine optimism that something structural had shifted.

Among the mining entrepreneurs we spoke with, the recurring sentiment was one of relief. For years, the earliest stage of a mining project – the surveys, the geological work, the laboratory testing – has been the hardest to fund. Banks will not touch it. Private investors will not commit to it.

It is the stage where most Nigerian mining ideas have died quietly, not for lack of merit but for lack of a mechanism. EMERGE, many said, is that mechanism.

The Daily Circular spoke with Engineer Adeniran Ajibade, President of the Gemstone Miners and Marketers Association of Nigeria, on the gap SMDF EMERGE aims to address. He shared that the Solid Minerals Development Fund was established to help explorers and miners access the funding they need to grow their businesses.

The report also featured John-Bede Anthonio, Chairman of First African Coconut Company Limited, who argued that the capital market holds the key to unlocking greater investment in Nigeria’s mining sector and creating opportunities for growth and returns.

Why EMERGE matters

Beyond the speeches and announcements, the launch reflected a deeper shift in Nigeria’s mining strategy.

For decades, the sector has struggled with one major bottleneck: lack of exploration data. Without reliable geological information, investors have been hesitant to commit capital, leaving many mineral deposits underdeveloped.

EMERGE directly targets this gap. By funding exploration and research at the earliest stage, the programme aims to reduce investment risk, generate credible data, and build a pipeline of viable projects.

It also reflects a broader global trend, where countries are racing to secure critical minerals needed for energy transition technologies. Nigeria, with its lithium and rare earth potential, is positioning itself to compete in that space.