Dr. Fayemi, Solid Minerals Minister |
A private mining syndicate has made a potentially “world class and highly unusual” Nickel discovery in Nigeria, The Australian, an Australian national newspaper is reporting.
The private mining syndicate is reportedly headed by Hugh Morgan, a mining industry veteran.
“The discovery is unusual because the nickel is found in small balls
up to 3mm in diameter of a high purity in shallow soils in what could be
the surface expression of a much bigger hard-rock nickel field,” the
newspaper said.
“The nickel balls, rumoured to grade better than 90 per cent nickel
and thought to be a world first given their widespread distribution,
offer the potential for early cashflow from a simple and low-cost
screening operation to fund a full assessment of the find that has
exploration circles buzzing.”
Details of the discovery are sketchy, according to the newspaper, but
it was rumoured to be close to Dangoma, a small farming town about
160km northeast of the Nigerian capital of Abuja.
When asked to comment last week, Mr Morgan reportedly said it was for the Nigerian government to make an announcement.
Kayode Fayemi, the Minister for Solid Minerals, will be among the
speakers at a three-day Africa Down Under mining conference at Perth’s
Pan Pacific Hotel, Australia, in September.
Mr. Fayemi is to speak first on Wednesday, September 7, and Mr Morgan
will follow along with consulting geologist Louisa Lawrance. Mr Morgan
is listed as speaking as a director of the private company Comet
Minerals.
Olayinka Oyebode, Mr. Fayemi’s Chief Press Secretary, said he had no
details of the discovery, but confirmed his principal is scheduled to be
in Australia next week.
“I know there is a mining conference coming up in Australia where the
Honourable Minister is supposed to make a presentation,” Mr. Oyebode said on Monday.
“But I don’t have an advance knowledge of what he’s going to talk about but, generally speaking, he’s going to market Nigeria.”
Mr. Oyebode asked this newspaper to give him till Monday evening for Mr. Fayemi’s reaction on the nickel discovery in Kaduna.
But an official of the ministry, who asked not to be named because he
was not authorised to speak on the matter, said Mr. Fayemi’s delegation
would most likely sign an exploration deal with the Australian
syndicate at the conference.
Nickel is primarily sold for first use as refined metal. About 65
percent of it consumed in the West is used to produce stainless steel.
The world’s largest producers of Nickel include The Philippines,
Indonesia, Russia, Canada, and Australia, according to the US Geological
Survey.
In August, Mr. Fayemi told Bloomberg that one of the Nigeria
government’s priorities is to meet its annual steel demand of 6.8 metric
tons, from a current output of less than 2.5 metric tons, produced
mainly from scrap iron.
“In two to five years, we want to have started production of iron
ore, lead, zinc, bitumen, nickel, coal and gold at a serious scale,” Mr.
Fayemi had said.
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