By: Abdulsalam Omuya Lukeman | Abuja
Like a train emerging from a long dark tunnel, Nigeria is inevitably poised to initiate a paradigm shift in its Mining sector. Apparently, she is finally convinced to occupy her ‘organic’ spot among the league of mining attractive destinations. Over the years, she appears comfortable as a self-acclaimed, though devoid of tangible commodity statistics, mineral resource-rich West African nation of note. This thinking, regardless whether true or imagined, is about to fade away.
The investment of a whooping sum of about $42m for target exploration, with clear deliverables, is all that’s required to convince any skeptic of her intention to return to the big, rich pitch. This unprecedented surge, for a sector enjoying more than its fair share of lip service, is considered more than a courageous ambition but a justifiably BOLD STEP in the RIGHT DIRECTION.
For the very first time in the sector’s history, we are witnessing a seismic transition from wishful-thinking to a deliberate, pragmatic, well-crafted and result-driven engagement. Something remains unclear – At one end of the spectrum is government as administrator-regulator while at the other is the private sector as owner-operator. With this incursion therefore, the nature of the anticipated outcome is somewhat blurry. Before now, the thinking was that the armies of indigent artisanal miners’ titles may be unceremoniously overtaken by some non-mutually agreed restrictions. It was further speculated that this approach may deeply erode the confidence in global players who may be considering investing huge capital sums in a country with a seemingly ‘flexible’ legal framework which supports opaque arbitrary mining administration practices that ‘side steps’ the Act regulating the sector. However, in the course of investigation, leading to this write-up, facts have gradually kicked away fiction. The NIMEP project, well-conceived with articulated deliverables, presents a clear path of entry onto yet another period of sector renaissance. We are, if you care to know, at a Rubicon moment. This plunge, if eventually successful, becomes a strategic, orchestrated move capable of adorning this populous country with a full mining regalia, as Africa’s new El-Dorado!
If we roll back the clock, Nigeria was at one time, a mining destination of repute – famed for valuable metallic minerals. It went majestically on, to occupy the tip of the pyramid for its world supply of Tin. Whatever went wrong, we have, this time around, come full-circle – a new dawn is here upon us with the berthing of THE NATIONAL INTEGRATED MINERAL EXPLORATION PROJECT initiative.
At the moment, performance from the sector, economic-wise, borders on the margin of dismal. If you consider contributions to the GDP, for a sector besides Agriculture that presents an alternative to her Petroleum Resources, you would interpret my language as being circumspect. Figuratively, the mining sector accounts for 0.3% of National Employment, 0.02% of exports and about 0.3% in GDP. Comparatively, contributions of Minerals and Mining to the economies of other African countries like Ghana, Cote D’ Ivoire, South Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo are much larger.
Worthy of note, is that Nigeria’s public geoscience data is provided by Nigeria Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), The Government’s institution responsible for generating, archiving, and disseminating geoscience data and information in the country. They submitted that Nigeria’s mining sector is diverse in mineral resources some of are categorized into those of High Value such as Gold; Bulk such as Iron Ore, Cassiterite, Dimension stones and Gems such as Sapphire, Emerald etc
However, the presence of well capitalized international firms with significant geographic mining footprint and diverse portfolios across several minerals in her mining space such as BHP Billiton, Anglo – American, Vale and Rio Tinto, have remained, till this moment, exceedingly elusive. The reason is not far-fetched – dearth of dependable Geoscience data, without which, it is impossible attracting the much-desired international attention. According to a former minister, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, ‘’Mining has not been, and will never be, the source of overnight, easy revenues. Companies have to place smart bets based on geoscience data the ministry can help create. Sometimes their bets pay off, leading them to expand from exploration into production, creating even more jobs and wealth for the country. Other times, they get it wrong and their capital expenditures in exploration have to be written off, with attendant job losses.’’
CONCEPT BEHIND THE NATIONAL INTEGRATED MINERAL EXPLORATION PROJECT
Obviously, the glaring bane of disinterest in Nigeria from recognized global players is the lack of confidence in its existing geological data to which former Minister of State, Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, Bawa Bwari, once remarked: ‘’I think by this exploration, we are building a stronger foundation for the Nigerian Mining industry and creating investors confidence whereby they would want to invest, haven known what is on ground’’. He further noted that ‘’the aim is to create readily available Geoscience data bank and attract investors – This is the point of NIMEP–the desire to achieve the diversification of the economy through the solid mineral sector. According to the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Abdulkadir Mu’azu: ‘‘hence the essence of embarking on a robust exploration for some priority minerals to obtain a comprehensive and bankable geoscience information data of international standard’’.
Therefore, the National Integrated Mineral Exploration Project, NIMEP is an important component of this Government’s administration conceived to fulfil one of its diversification agenda in the mining sector. This entails creatively initiating target exploration programs toward economic activities. In the process, it is expected that employment will be created through several play station engagements among others, Mu’azu concluded.
To kick start the project and spark off field activities, the permanent secretary disclosed that ‘’the Federal Government through the Ministry advertised and invited interested contractors and consultants to supervise the project to submit Request for Proposals (RFP’s) and Expression of Interest (EOI) respectively which is in line with the Terms of Reference (TOR’s) for prequalification of various exploration projects with duration of one (1) year. About forty (40) applications were received and subjected to thorough technical evaluation in order to meet the Ministry and Bureau of Public Procurement’s requirements. This led to the prequalification of twelve (12) exploration companies and nine (9) consultants. Finally, five (5) exploration companies and three (3) consultants emerged successfully to execute the project.
The successful companies are to drive the exploration for 5 commodities – Gold, Iron Ore, Lead/Zinc, Baryte and Rare Earth Metals. The supervising companies, christened as Consultants, consist of globally renown Competent Persons, who are expected to drive a global appeal towards the derived data. Local geoscientists, as the project’s title suggests ‘integrated’, selected from different layers of government sector, are embedded in the technical team to understudy the processes and benefit from improved technical knowledge transfer from the various programs distributed across all geo-political zones of Nigeria. For now, the designated areas have been blocked and restricted to further title application pending conclusion. The good news as relates to existing title holders is that such move does not threaten their tenement. If anything, it should contribute added value by paving way for access to investors’ confidence through the data generated. However, this advantage is subject to the provisions of the Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act.
- LOT– A1/C1 Contractor- AG Vision Limited / Total Earth Consultant- Geo Exploration / GeoWitch Limited Mineral Commodity- Pb-Cu, Au-Ag, PGM, Ni-Cr-Co
- LOT– A2/C2 Contractor- Rapidlinks Resource Limited Consultant- Geo Exploration / GeoWitch Limited Mineral Commodity- Sn,Ta,Nb,Li
- LOT- A3/C3 Contractor- Juggernaut Industries Limited Consultant- Geo Kooy Environmental Services Limited Mineral Commodity- Pb-Zn-Cu-Ag
- LOT- A4/C4 Contractor- DAPMAT Drilling / Mecon Engineering Services Limited Consultant- Phronesis Oil and Gas Tek Limited Mineral Commodity- Barytes
- LOT- A5/C5 Contractor- National Steel Raw Material Exploration Agency (RSRMEA) Consultant- Geo Kooy Environmental Services Limited Mineral Commodity- Iron Ore
The Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office, an agency responsible for minerals title administration has strongly assured it possess both cardinal responsibility for the project and also security of tenure to protect the title holder. Going forward, the federal government’s plan over successful areas, outside those with title holding of course, is to delineate them into blocks and throw up for bidding by serious investors with verified financial capacity. This should seal the confidence of other globally renowned players.
Overall, the following benefits are anticipated;
- Build stronger foundation for the Nigeria’s Mining industry and investor confidence
- Deepen acquisition of geoscience data and ignite accelerated development of the Mining sector
- Create readily available geoscience data
- Attract global scale investment
- Make our geoscience resources more attractive
- Facilitate the sector’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product
- Generate massive direct and indirect employment,
- Stimulate standard global mining practices and
- Create wealth along the value chain
The Project Structure
The NATIONAL INTEGRATED MINERAL EXPLORATION PROJECT, NIMEP is a Federal Government’s Project in the mining sector, anchored by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development. It is designed to be executed and funded in phases beginning from Desktop Studies, Geological Mapping, Sampling, Trenching, Sample analysis, Acquisition/ interpretation of ground Electro-Magnetic modelling, Integration of data and Reporting. They are also expected to provide phase report at the end of each phase.
The project is financed through the Natural Resources fund and domiciled with the Nigeria Geological Survey Agency, NGSA serving as the supervising secretariat.
Expectedly, the NGSA is to play a leading role in the execution of the exploration project by its statutory roles and capability to generate reliable geo-data for the industry.
The Ministerial Monitoring and Implementation Committee has members drawn up from the parent Ministry, Nigerian Geological Survey Agency and Mining Cadastre Office.
That committee has Dr. ABDULRASAQ GARBA, an astute, renowned, vibrant and professionally meticulous young man, who doubles as the Director General, Nigeria Geological Survey Agency, as chairman. The secretary is Alhaji YUNUSA MOHAMMED, a deputy Director, Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Department and a tested administrative staff of the ministry. Many staff of the ministry and their agencies, in keeping with the name of the project, are also integrated. The aim is to expand their technical skills towards human capacity development.
The mandate is clear – Ensure the Terms of Reference of the contract are strictly adhered to and also bridge the communication gap between Government, Contractors and Consultants. Thus far, the secretariat has done a marvelous job and for a couple of times held well organized stakeholders’meetings, with very encouraging attendance from industry eggheads, academia, operators, administrators and the parent ministry, ably represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dr. MU’AZU ABDULKADIR. The meetings which are largely interactive, presented veritable avenues for reviews and discussions of the various phases and exploration methods Contractors/Consultants deployed, update stakeholders on the progress of work, which was always quickly followed by questions and answers sessions, constructive technical criticisms, suggestions and general contributions.
The stage has been long set
Nigeria has, not too long ago, completed a high-resolution airborne study in which more than 2million line kilometers of Magnetic, Gravity, Electro-magnetic and Radiometric data has been generated. The survey proceeded to isolate areas of possible mineralization and geophysical follow-up studies were subsequently undertaken based on the lead provided by the airborne geophysical anomaly signatures. It is all aimed at assisting and promoting mineral exploration. This was a significant effort in well over three decades to update Nigeria’s geological data set. This precursory move, serving as a launchpad, prepared the grounds for the milestone we are about to gain through NIMEP. The major constraint of this earlier effort, as reflected in the sector’s ROADMAP, include data collection at the appropriate level of accuracy and its timely dissemination to National and international investors.
What it’s worth
This project, obviously a flagship in concept, is capable of altering the trajectory of Nigeria’s mining architectural landscape or instantly improve its rating and further draw investment interest from far and near.
Revenue from the sector has plummeted to an all time low before the administration of Kayode Fayemi, the former Minister who boosted it severely, escalating it to an all-time high collection at well over 300%. That good news inundated questionable concerns around the sector’s abysmal financial performance jolting her to become creative in a quest to achieve optimal recovery.
Food for Thought
Part of the challenge, as well as the fascination, is that why wait this long to take the plunge? For a sector, at that time and now, whose staggering potential culminated into the development of the nation’s rail infrastructure to ferry coal resources from the East to the city of Port-Harcourt. Another scenario is the Cassiterite and Columbite, coupled with the near temperate climate, that attracted Europeans to the enormous mineral mining opportunities in the Jos Plateau. This episodic narrative still permeates the thinking around the sector to this day.
The Charge
The Ministry, through the defunct Nigeria Mining Corporation, NMC and the Coal Corporation, has within the limits of available knowledge and technology, at the time, recorded a remarkable milestone which established the platform upon which this project is hinged. It is curiously anticipated that creative innovation will kick-in, ensuring that scientific signatures from this known ‘Greenfields’, derived in the course of different surveys, will be superimposed upon the ‘brownfields’ to discover more groundbreaking resources. At one of the stakeholders meeting, the permanent secretary, Dr. Mu’azu, had reminded that ‘’the objective of this project is but not limited to the generation of detailed geoscience information- Determination of Ore reserves, Mineral occurrences, Discovery and reporting of new minerals, quality and grade of Ore and Minerals, improved geological knowledge of the locality but, also to generate wealth and employment along the value chain and that its outcome shall be used for policy and research purposes.’’ Only when this is achieved can we confidently assume that expectations from these hired, world acclaimed COMPETENT PERSONS are well justified. The CONTRACTORS, just as the COMPETENT PERSONS, must not be unaware that with this project, history beckons on them. Anything less is not good enough. We have to transcend the era of colorful presentations and translate it into tangible, defined outcomes. For they have come; they have seen, they have nothing else than to conquer. They will be held to account, lest they reach in and swing that much anticipated magic wand.
EYES ON THE PRIZE
The resolve to conceive and proceed with this laudable initiative is a clear signal we have decided to break free from a traditional sinusoidal trajectory and confront the bull, head-on. The residual apprehension is, as with most cases, will these culminate into a success story? This introductory piece, a first in a two series narrative, is intended to expose the companies in a coliseum of recognition. At this level, companies are introduced and Consultants revealed in graphic details. The next phase of the narrative shall concern with performance, conclusion and possibly, Federal Government’s plan going forward.
It is indeed gladdening that for once in several decades, we have resolutely, broken free from the veneer of skeptism to a purposeful, concerted drive towards seeking answers. What’s more? We need to coalesce around the ministry’s new administration now headed by Arch. Olamilekan Adegbite and Dr. Uchechukwu Samson Ogah as the remarkable structure of the project’s concept provokes hope that we have eyes on a better prize.
Another luxuriantly heartwarming feeling is knowing that this administration has not closed its doors against the industry. As we collectively forge ahead staking out for a greater industrial fortune, a bold unwritten statement has been made – our thinking cannot remain unchanged. Intriguingly, preliminary presentation at Indaba in February, PDAC in March, OECD in Paris, in London at the Arab Quarry Summit and Africa Down Under in Australia- all in 2019 indicates we are well on course. For some strange reasons, though barring the odds as to which direction the pendulum might swing, I cannot help thinking this time we can, relying on our profound mining heritage, be rewarded with a magnificent aftermath.
