Kasim Sumaina in Kaduna
The federal government, Friday inaugurated state of the art Fire Assay Laboratory and Earthquake Monitoring Centre, first of its kind in West Africa region
Government, through the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Olamilekan Adegbite disclosed that the nation was building a world class mining sector that would be the toast of investors.
Adegbite made the disclosure during the commissioning of the two projects built by the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), in Kaduna State.
The minister while answering questions from Journalists on the sidelines shortly after the Laboratory inauguration noted: “The commissioning today is a testament to the impressive policy drive of president Buhari.
“He is the only president that has put extra budgetary funds into the sector to develop it.”
He said that the Fire Assay laboratory is the first of its type in Nigeria and West Africa in general and is considered the most reliable means for accurately determining the content of gold, silver, and platinum-group metals in ores or concentrates.
The minister further noted that the Laboratory was a crucial analytical infrastructure needed in the mining sector to accurately determine the concentrates of precious metals in ore, noting that the development was bound to take the mining sector to the next level.
He further said that the establishment of a Fire Assay laboratory was a crucial step towards making the country a major mining destination, stating: “We now have the analytical facilities that can support the mining ecosystem in the country and this is bound to attract more foreign interest in to the sector.”
Adegbite also noted that the Fire Assay Laboratory would save the country millions of dollars spent outside the country to conduct such analysis on metal ores.
According to him, “With the establishment of a fire Assay laboratory, we do not need to take metal ores out of the country to determine the level of concentrate of precious metals, thereby expending our scares foreign exchange in other countries.
“This fire Assay laboratory would free up scarce foreign exchange, while it would also serve as a revenue generator for the government as companies who want to mine precious metals would no longer need to send samples out of the country but now send them to our laboratory in Kaduna which would be a source of revenue generation for the government.”
The Minister also thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for his support to the mining sector, noting that his administration had allocated special intervention fund for the sector to enhance its Geo-science data generation capacity.
He said: “Indeed we thank president Muhammadu Buhari for giving this sector the fillip and the push it deserves to becoming a choice mining destination in the mining world. No other administration has allocated the resources that this present administration has to the mining sector and for that we are grateful.”
Speaking about the earthquake monitoring equipment, the minister noted that it was important for monitoring and measuring tremors, adding that the equipment were of American standard and will help analyse earth tremors within the country.
Similarly, the Director General of Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) Engr. Abdulrazaq Garba, equally agreed that the establishment of a Fire Assay laboratory would enhance Nigeria’s status as a Mining jurisdiction in the global mining world.
Garba stated that it would save the country foreign exchange spent on conducting such analysis in other countries.
He explained that with the commissioning of the Fire Assay laboratory, the NGSA can now conduct analysis of gold and platinum group metals, and as a mineral analysis outfit, “this would contribute immensely to the economic growth of the country as we save the nation foreign exchange that would have been spent on conducting the analysis abroad.
“Before now many foreign investors had been making inquiries asking if we have a Fire Assay laboratory that can support the mining sector in the country. With the establishment of one now, it is bound to be a welcome news to foreign investors”, he said.
The NGSA DG also revealed that some companies involved in the National Integrated Mineral Exploration Project, NIMEP, programme had spent millions of dollars to obtain such analysis outside the country.
“About two companies did fire essay analysis outside the country just to determine the metal content of what they are doing for example gold, content, the companies in between them spent about two million dollars.
“If half of that came into the NGSA we would have been able to achieve internally generated revenue for the sector, we would have also been able to save capital flight.”
He maintained that the fire Assay laboratory is owned by the National Geosciences Research Laboratory Centre Kaduna, which is under the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, an agency under the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.
