According to the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), it has discovered high quality of platinum group elements in a village in Niger. This was made known on Monday, 8th April 2019 by Alhaji Abubakar Bwari, the Minister of State, Mines and Steel Development at the groundbreaking ceremony of AG Vision Mining Site in Suleja Local Government Area of the state.
Bwari stressed further that the large mineral deposit was discovered at Kuchiko village in Suleja and that the quality of the discovery was higher than that of South Africa which currently has the highest deposit of the mineral in the world.
Also, in a preliminary report released by the company revealed that the results are quite encouraging. The platinum group discovered so far is more qualitative than that of South Africa.
More so, the development goes to show that Nigeria is highly endowed with this mineral. But what Nigeria is looking for now is the commercial viability of the mineral.
The minister also disclosed that the Federal Government had earmarked N15 billion for exploration of minerals in Nigeria to generate detailed geosciences data of quality and quantity of available minerals all over the country.
Giving highlights to the exploration drive of the Ministry, Bwari informed that the project is the biggest exploration activity of its kind ever embarked upon by the Ministry.
He added that the project is domiciled in the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) and it is being supervised by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development (MMSD) and that, it is being funded through the Natural Resources Fund.
In furtherance to the above, the N15 billion was drawn from the Natural Resource Development Fund (NRDF) to the Ministry as intervention fund to focus on exploration which is the heart of mining activity of the Federal Government. The project was designed to be executed and funded in phases, from the desktop studies to geological mapping, among others.
Other commentators at the event such as Dr Abubakar Mua’zu, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry added that the project was timely as it would attract more mining investors into the country. while Dr. Abdulrazak Garba, the Director-General, Nigeria Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) affirmed that the project was initiated to bridge the gap between exploration data and mining development.
In his remarks, Mr. Fadi Ghazale, the Managing-Director, AG Vision Mining the event was another landmark in the roadmap towards the development of Nigeria’s solid minerals industry. He also informed that AG vision mining company is currently embarking on exploration activities in many states across the country such as Niger, Ogun and Oyo states.
