- Terra Industries secured a $1 million contract to provide autonomous security for the Jema’a Resource Project in Kaduna State, Nigeria.
- The contract includes surveillance and protection at a site with significant gold, lithium, copper, and nickel deposits.
- The Jema’a project is a key part of Kaduna’s mining development, supported by recent $500 million agreements to boost mining across the state.
- Terra has rapidly grown its mining-security <a href="https://usglobalxpress.com/dangotes-mega-ipo-a-new-era-for-africas-biggest-refinery-business/” title=”Dangote's Mega IPO: A New Era for Africa's Biggest Refinery | Business”>business, recently closing $2 million in contracts and deploying advanced surveillance technology at Nigerian mining sites.
Terra said the phase-one contract was awarded by Anka Metals and will cover autonomous surveillance and site protection at the project in Gidan Waya, where deposits of gold, lithium, copper and nickel have been identified
The Jema’a project is being developed through a special-purpose vehicle created by Kaduna Mining Development Company (KMDC) after a discovery made by Kian Smith for the KMDC-Anka Metals joint venture
DON’T MISS THIS:Nigerian drone maker raises $52 million as Ghana factory prepares to become Africa’s largest
In July, KMDC and the Africa Finance Corporation signed agreements worth $500 million to support mining development across Kaduna, including the Jema’a project’s move towards commercial production
The new contract comes less than two weeks after Terra expanded into commercial infrastructure security
The company said it closed $2 million in contracts to protect two lithium mining operations in Nigeria during the first week of its commercial division
The contracts will see Terra deploy 20 sentry towers and four Iroko drones across the two operators’ sites, with the systems using ArtemisOS, its autonomous command-and-control platform, for surveillance, threat detection and response. Terra said the operators plan to expand the deployments as they bring additional sites online
The rapid expansion comes as Nigeria seeks to position its mineral re
Nigeria and the U.S. are now moving toward a formal mining agreement, with both sides expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on mining cooperation on the sidelines of the 2026 United Nations General Assembly in New York
The planned agreement follows a meeting between Solid Minerals Development Minister Dele Alake and U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Keith Heffern, building on earlier discussions in Washington
DON’T MISS THIS:African defence startup Terra raises $22m in two weeks, valuation tops $100m
The talks focused on collaboration across geological exploration, mining, mineral processing, value addition and refining, as well as building secure and resilient supply chains for minerals considered critical to the global energy transition
Terra also has a significant U.S. investment connection. Its $52 million seed round has included U.S. venture capital firms 8VC, Lux Capital and Valor Equity Partners, among other investors. The company said the latest funding will support manufacturing, international expansion and deployments across the Global South
For Terra, the shift into mining security comes at a time when Nigeria is trying to move its mineral rerojects attract capital, financing and technical partners, securing mines and other critical infrastructure is emerging as another part of the investment equation