Mining: FG Acquires High-tech Precision Instruments for Purity, Weight of Gold

Kasim Sumaina in Abuja

In a bid to equipped mining institutions and enable them perform their roles, the federal government yesterday hinted that it has acquired and delivered to the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, a Niton™ DXL Precious Metal Analyzer and Mettler Toledo Precision Analytical Balance.

The equipment, the government disclosed, is to identify the right amount and quantity of specific minerals in the country.

The Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the Solid Mineral Development Fund, Hajiya Fatima Umaru Shinkafi, while handing over the two batches of equipment to the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Olamilekan Adegbite, in Abuja, noted that The Niton DXL precious metal analyser would enable nondestructive analysis of metals with near instantaneous results.

She hinted that the equipment is exceptionally fast, easy to use, results appears in seconds on a bright, touch-screen colour display.

According to Shinkafi, “It requires no harsh chemicals or acids that can burn your fingers, ruin clothing and damage countertops. Faster, more comprehensive analysis than fire assay, with comparable accuracy.”

She maintained that the assay machine also eliminates the need for density test that is crude and inaccurate, adding: “The instruments that we are presenting today will enable the determination of the purity and weight of golds on seconds.

“So we are presenting today both assaying instruments and precision weighing instruments. We are confident that these instruments will support the Ministry’s ASM clusters across the country with these types of equipment.

“The fund is just performing its statutory function of equipping mining institutions, and enabling them to perform their roles.”

Responding, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Adegbite, commended the leadership of the agency for the procurement of the equipment which would help the ministry’s officers at the field to identify the right amount and quantity of specific minerals.

Adegbite reveal that the ministry was planning for the SMDF to have an

Establishment Act, which would empower the agency to source funds from the private sector.

The minister stated further that the knowledge acquired by the various departments in the ministry such as Mining Inspectorate, MI, Artisanal and Small Scale Mining, ASM, Mine Environmental Compliance (MEC) would be made available to SMDF.