In order to fully realise the economic and social benefits of the African Mining Vision , the federal government of Nigeria must exercise the political will needed to ban the importation of barite and also ensure that marketing and pricing of the commodity is effectively regulated as a strategy to ensure development of local content, the Association of Miners and Processors of Barite has said.
THE TRUTH reports that barite, which exists in commercial quantity in Nigeria, is a solid mineral that is inevitable in the mining of oil.
The Acting Chairman, AMAPOB Board of Trustees, who is also the Emir of Azara, Alh Dr. Kabiru Musa Ibrahim, lamented the extent to which the development of Nigerian local content has been ignored, saying “Nigeria was an oil producing nation and we know that oil cannot be produced without barite, yet there was barite in Nigeria, but barite was still being imported to drill Nigerian oil.”
The royal father was emphatic that indigenous mining and processing companies in Nigeria have the capacity to produce the quantity and quality of barite needed in the exploration of oil, saying Nigerian industrialists should consider the lucrative idea of mining and processing barites for export to other oil producing nations.
Assuring the federal government of the competence of indigenous miners to meet quality and quantity requirements of barites needed by oil companies the country, the royal father recalled that the Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board and AMAPOB synergised to enhance capacity of miners of barites, adding that International Oil Companies would work on a design for mechanisation of mining of barites.
The Acting Chairman further explained that in 2014, Chevron supported the initial take-off with contribution of bull dozer, excavator, wheel loader, a low bed two tipping trucks, Toyota Hilux van, Toyota Corolla and a compressor that aided in the mechanisation process.
“We have been using the equipment and learning mechanisation in the process, and it has enhanced production,” he said, adding that the association continues to reach out to members in order to optimise production.
While reiterating the call for ban on importation of barites, the Acting Chairman assured that indigenous miners have mastered the equipment and can now deploy and run them seamlessly, stating that mechanised mining and production of barites will lead to large scale production that will meet the requirement of the oil
industry.
While commending the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board for the role it played as a “formidable instrument in forging a winning path for a successful barite and bentonite development in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria,” he called on the board to address the need for pricing, saying AMAPOB has confidence in the monitoring to regulate the marketing of barites in order to pave way for development of local content in such a way that it will encourage the growth of indigenous mining companies and the Nigerian economy.
