African Economy and Development, a Japan-based conglomerate, has unveiled plans to set up a $44 million manganese plant in Nigeria. The announcement was on 24 October 2011 made by the AFRECO president led a delegation from the company on a courtesy visit to the minister of Mines and steel development Mohammed Sada.
The president said that when established the proposed plant would produce about 5,000tpa of manganese and create about 500 jobs. He added that the group would like to invest in the manganese sector because it was very viable.The president said that AFRECO had been investing in foreign countries in the past 41 years. He listed some of the main countries as South Africa, Zambia and Brazil.