The Federal Government has opened the Fire Assay Laboratory in Kaduna State to conduct accurate metal ores analysis.
Mr Olamilekan Adegbite, Minister of Mines and Steel Development, stated this in a statement issued by Mr Ayodeji Adeyemi, the Minister’s Special Assistant on Media, on Friday in Abuja.
The minister who launched the project stated that the laboratory was the first of its kind in Nigeria, adding that “it is reliable and accurate in determining mineral content.”
“The Fire Assay laboratory is Nigeria’s first of its kind, and it is widely regarded as the most reliable method for accurately determining the content of gold, silver, and platinum-group metals in ores or concentrates.”
“The commissioning is a testament to President Muhammadu Buhari’s impressive policy drive; he is the only president who has put extra budgetary funds into the sector to develop it,” he said.
The laboratory, according to the minister, is a critical analytical infrastructure required to take the mining sector to the next level.
He described the laboratory’s establishment as a critical step toward making the country a major mining destination.
“We now have analytical facilities that can support the country’s mining ecosystem, and this is bound to attract more foreign interest in the sector.”
Adegbite stated that the laboratory would save the country millions of dollars that would otherwise be spent outside of the country to conduct such analyses on metal ores.
“With the establishment of the laboratory, we no longer need to transport metal ores out of the country to determine the level of precious metal concentrate, thereby expending our scarce foreign exchange in other countries.”
“The laboratory will free up scarce foreign exchange while also serving as a revenue generator for the government because companies seeking to mine precious metals will no longer send samples abroad.”
The Kaduna laboratory will generate revenue for the government. The minister also thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for his support for the mining industry, noting that his administration had set aside a special intervention fund for the industry to improve its geo-science data generation capacity.
“No other administration has allocated the resources to the mining sector that this administration has, and for that we are grateful,”
The minister, who also inaugurated the Earthquake Monitoring Centre in Kaduna State, stated that the equipment would be useful in monitoring and measuring tremors in Nigeria.
Dr Abdulrazaq Garba, Director General of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), agreed that the establishment of the laboratory would boost Nigeria’s standing as a mining jurisdiction in the mining world.
Garba went on to say that it would save the country money that would otherwise be spent on conducting such analyses in other countries.
“With the commissioning of this laboratory, we can now conduct gold and platinum group metal analysis, as well as mineral analysis.”
Garba also revealed that some companies involved in the National Integrated Mineral Exploration Project (NIMEP) had spent millions of dollars to obtain such analysis outside of the country.
“About two companies spent about two million dollars on fire essay analysis outside of the country just to determine the metal content of what they are doing, for example, gold content.”
“If half of the amount had gone into the NGSA, we would have been able to achieve internally generated revenue for the sector and save capital flight.”
The National Geosciences Research Laboratory Centre, Kaduna, which is under NGSA, is the owner of the Fire Assay laboratory. NGSA is an agency under the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.