The Federal Government says it has uncovered an attempt by an embattled mining company, Jupiter Ltd, to launch what it described as a “campaign of calumny” against Nigeria during the planned state visit of President Bola Tinubu to the United Kingdom, following a dispute over revoked mineral licences.

The Ministry of Solid Minerals Development said the alleged move was aimed at discrediting the Federal Government’s reforms in the mining sector and misleading the international community about the circumstances surrounding the revocation of certain mineral licences.

It said the company and its associates were allegedly preparing to circulate what it termed misleading claims about the Nigerian mining sector to discredit the government’s ongoing reforms.

In a statement issued on Sunday by the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Segun Tomori, the ministry insisted that allegations that Nigeria seized a British lithium project under armed guard were false and misleading.

Tomori said the Federal Government had no legal or contractual relationship with any company known as Jupiter Lithium, stressing that Nigeria’s mining laws prohibited foreign companies from directly holding mineral titles.

The statement read, “It has come to the attention of the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development that an embattled mining firm, Jupiter Ltd, plans to orchestrate a campaign of calumny against the Federal Government of Nigeria during the state visit of President Bola Tinubu to the United Kingdom.

“Earlier in the week, the Special Adviser to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Kehinde Bamigbetan, authored a robust response to a tissue of falsehoods sponsored by Jupiter Ltd in a publication titled ‘Nigeria Seizes British Lithium Project Under Armed Guard.’

“Our response, titled ‘In Nigeria’s Mining Sector, The Law Is No Respecter of Persons,’ exposed the antics of one Steve Davis and Hamish MacDonald, whose deceitful enterprise in the mining sector eventually met the full weight of the law.

“We made it unequivocally clear that the allegations are baseless and unfounded. The Federal Government, through the ministry and the Nigeria Mining Cadastral Office, has no legal or contractual relationship with any company known as Jupiter Lithium, as the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act expressly prohibits the granting of mining licences to foreign companies.”

He explained that the controversy stemmed from the revocation of mineral titles belonging to Basin Mining Ltd, a Nigerian company linked to an Australian national, Steve Davis, who allegedly fronts several mining entities operating in the country.