Meet Nere Teriba, The 36-Year-Old Entrepreneur Building Nigeria’s First Gold Refinery

Her name is Nere Teriba, she is young but her determination and ambitions are limitless. At just 36 years of age, Nere Teriba is the Managing Director and Vice Chairman of Kain Smith Trade & Co. Ltd, a company she created in 2012, and which is very active in consulting, extractive industries, mining concession management and mineral trading in Nigeria. In a few weeks to come, Nere Teriba will make history of the industries of her country Nigeria, by becoming the first and youngest Nigerian to refine gold locally.

Nere’s indigenous mineral company Kain Smith trade & Co. Ltd is behind the development of this gold refinery, whose construction work started in the Southwestern State of Ogun on the 13th of December 2018 and would supposedly end in late February 2019. After completion of the construction, we will then have to wait until June 2019 to see the actual start-up of the refinery’s activities.

According to Nere Teriba, the refinery will prioritize sustainability by initially being able to produce three tonnes of Gold per month and one tonne of Silver per month before rising to ten tonnes of Gold per month and three tonnes of Silver per month in just five years.

The refinery will also supply the Central Bank of Nigeria, the jewelry industry as well as the electronics sector.

It is important to note that most of the ores for production will be coming from miners within Nigeria. At the groundbreaking ceremony, Nere Teriba said that Kian Smith Trade Co. & Ltd has already secured a significant monthly supply of gold from northwestern states (Zamfara, Kebi, and Kaduna) as well as central states (Kwara and Niger), with other states to follow. In total, the company has MoUs from about 200 gold suppliers. The company also plans to source about 100kg of gold per month from other parts of Africa like Ghana, Sierra Leonne, and Tanzania.

The refinery when completed will provide more than 500 000 jobs in two years as it continues to support its suppliers in their bid to become registered business entities in the mining sector. Throughout Africa, artisanal and small-scale miners make up the bulk of mining output. Most often, these miners are not licensed, thus making it difficult for the government to track production volumes, claim royalties, and protect the miners themselves, from unwholesome practices dangerous to their health. For Teriba. it is not just about building a gold refinery but it is also about fixing and transforming the mining industry in Nigeria in particular and in Africa as a whole.

Nere Teriba holds a degree in Science and a Master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, USA. She is an Entrepreneur, mediator, and strategist, who has worked for sustainable development solutions for communities in several countries. After her studies, she first worked as a computer engineer, before embarking on the mining sector, of which she was unaware of all the contours. One day, wondering where else she could go, the mining sector came to her mind.