Economy
Desert Gold Gains Strategic Partner in West Africa
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Desert Gold Ventures Inc has announced closing its private placement, noting that it issued 2,860,800 units at a price of CAD$0.25 per unit, raising gross proceeds of CAD$715,200.
Securities issued resulting from this private placement will be subject to a statutory hold period. However, the private placement is subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.
Also, Sodinaf International SA has become financial and strategic partner in Western Africa and Mr Salif Keita is appointed to the position of Vice President of Operations, West Africa.
Desert Gold outlines $1.5 million exploration program for its gold exploration portfolio in Western Mali.
It was gathered that Sodinaf International SA subscribed for 2,760,800 units representing the majority of the placement.
Sodinaf is a West African gold mining company that owns a 55 percent interest in the Kodieran Mine in Southern Mali as well as a substantial gold exploration portfolio in Western Mali and Ivory Coast.
The Kodieran gold mine is situated approximately 300 kilometres southeast of Bamako, the capital of Mali.
The mine and associated mining lease is operated by Wassoul Or SA a private joint-venture company where Sodinaf is the majority shareholder at 55 percent.
The Kodieran mining license and regional land package is situated on the West African Birimian greenstone belt; one of the most prolific belts in Western Africa where approximately 52 million ounces of gold resources have been discovered to date. The Kodieran mine is an open pit mining operation using a gravity plant that operates at a capacity of 11,000 tons per day.
Desert Gold and Sodinaf will form a strategic partnership to develop Desert Gold’s exploration licenses in Western Mali. The two companies will combine operational and financial resources to undertake exploration programs this year at all three of the Company’s properties in Western Mali.
Mr Keita is a senior geologist with over 14 years of experience in exploration and mining production. The majority of Mr Keita’s regional experience is in the Birimian Green Stone Belt in West Africa where he held senior positions with Anglo Gold Ashanti, Gold Fields and Great Quest Metals.
He holds a B.Sc. Geology (Honours) from the National School of Engineering, Bamako, Mali and will work with Desert Gold’s technical directors to oversee the Company’s exploration efforts in Western Mali.
Exploration will begin at the company’s highly prospective Farabantourou prospect where an indicated and inferred resource of 69,600 oz Au exists known as Barani East (969,000 tons at 2.25 g/t oz Au with a 0.5 g/t cutoff grade)1.
Farabantourou is located on the Senegal-Mali Fault Zone (“SMFZ”) 40km south of the AngloGold Ashanti Sadiola/Yatela Mine and 50km north of Randgold’s Loulou Mine. Both these mines are on the SMFZ.
In addition to the Barani East deposit, Farabantourou hosts 6 other mineralized zones that are largely underexplored and which combine to form nearly 5 km of strike.
Phase 1 of the exploration program will consist of a core-drilling program to reduce drill spacing on the current resource, as well as step out to drill new targets along strike to the south and west known as Kousilli and Dambamba.
In addition to this, the company will undertake to drill several deep holes at Barani East to depths up to depths of 400 meters. Phase 1 plans for a total of 6,000 meters of core drilling with work scheduled to begin immediately.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is seeking a reduction in import duty exemptions, which rose to N34 trillion, limiting its ability to increase its revenue generation threshold.
The Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, Mr Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed that the value of import duty exemption certificate approvals increased to that level in 2025, describing the policy as one of the major factors restricting its revenue generation.
At an investigative session of the Senate Committee on Finance with revenue-generating agencies in Abuja on Monday, Mr Adeniyi explained that government fiscal policies have continued to impact the revenue-generating capacity of the Customs Service, both positively and negatively.
“The NCS would have generated significantly higher revenue over the years if not for government-approved import duty waivers and other external factors affecting collections,” he said.
He added that the Import Duty Exemption Certificate scheme, introduced in March 2020, accounted for about N34 trillion in approvals in 2025, with nearly 60 per cent covering duty-free importation of military hardware due to Nigeria’s prevailing security challenges.
Other government-backed duty waivers, he noted, covered the importation of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), electric and hybrid vehicles, healthcare equipment and medical supplies, industrial machinery and manufacturing inputs, as well as food import intervention programmes.
While acknowledging the impact of the waivers on Customs revenue, Mr Adeniyi argued that fiscal policy should not be assessed solely on the basis of revenue generation but also on its broader economic and social objectives.
He, however, urged the federal government to establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to ensure beneficiaries of duty waivers deliver the intended economic outcomes, including lower consumer prices, increased local production and improved healthcare access.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the absence of several heads of government agencies invited to the hearing, including the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), Industrial Training Fund (ITF), and the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Jabi.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Mr Sani Musa, warned that the affected chief executives must appear at the committee’s next sitting or face severe sanctions under the Senate’s rules.
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By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rose by 0.40 per cent on Monday, July 13, buoyed by buying interest in 11 Plc, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and UBN Property Plc, which offset the profit-taking in Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of Chicken Republic.
11 Plc gained N20.69 to end at N227.64 per share compared with last Friday’s price of N206.95 per share, CSCS Plc grew by N1.83 to N91.48 per unit from N89.65 per unit, and UBN Property Plc added 1 Kobo to sell at N1.81 per share versus N1.80 per share.
On the flip side, Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 24 Kobo to close at N2.45 per unit, in contrast to the preceding session’s N2.69 per unit.
As a result, the market capitalisation increased by N9.2 billion to N2.587 trillion from N2.578 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 15.33 points to 4,311.67 points from 4,296.34 points.
Yesterday, the volume of securities traded by investors surged by 615.9 per cent to 9.1 million units from the previous 1.3 million units, and the value of securities rose by 997.1 per cent to N320.4 million from the preceding session’s N29.2 million, while the number of deals decreased by 12.5 per cent to 28 deals from last Friday’s 32 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 73.9 million units exchanged for N5.2 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
