NIMEP Contractor: Profile on National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency

By: ‘The Rock Post’ Team

National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency is an Agency of the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development that has been in existence since 1971 as an Exploration and Mining Division of the defunct Nigeria Steel Development Authority (NSDA) headed by Engr. Umar Albarka Hassan, It became a corporate body in 1992 through the enactment of Decree 49 of 1992. Its mandates include, amongst others, the following:

1. Carrying out the exploration of steel raw materials in all parts of Nigeria and elsewhere for the iron and steel industry;
2. Establishing and executing a steel raw material base including mineral resources management, monitoring, resources utilization studies and inventory in relation to the iron and steel industry;
3. Carrying out detailed geological, geophysical and geochemical investigations, including analytical and laboratory works, cadastral surveys, photo geological and other interpretations, core drilling and well logging, geostatistics and mineral resource estimations and valuations as may be required for exploration of steel raw materials;
4. Carrying out geotechnical studies of deposits under investigation, slope and rock stability studies, rock mechanics and soil tests as parameters requisite for mining of steel raw materials;
5. Ascertaining the quality and quantity of steel raw materials and their suitability for their respective industrial use in the iron and steel industry;
6. Carrying out hydrogeological investigations, including geophysical studies for water well drilling and development, bailing and pumping tests determination of aquifer characteristics, investigation of underground water supply for domestic and industrial purposes as may be required for the iron and steel industry;

 The agency also renders services to mineral title holders and the general public in the areas of:

1. Mineral Exploration
2. Core drilling
3. Geophysical investigations
4. Geotechnical studies
5. Hydro-geological investigations

Characterization of minerals and rocks (physical, chemical, mineralogical and process tests), amongst others. In this exclusive interview, The Rock Post crew interacted with the Director General/CEO, Engr. Umar Albarka Hassan. Excerpts:

Q.   Do you have any kind of project audit/verification by another independent competent persons?

R.   We have independent resource persons that serve as Peer Reviewers for the works that we do

Q.   Take us through the project anticipated deliverables

R.   The deliverables of the NIMEP Lot A5 Iron Ore Project comprise:

1. An overview of iron ore resources located around the country
2. Interpreted airborne Magnetic Survey and spectral survey data of five earmarked iron ore blocks indicating target iron ore resource areas.
3. Detailed Geological map of the earmarked five iron ore resource blocks with delineated surface iron ore boundaries and other rocks lithology.
4. Interpreted ground magnetic and VLF-EM survey data of highly prospective iron ore resource targets.
5. Identified Core Drilling points for sub-surface iron ore sample extraction
6. Extracted Iron Ore core samples for laboratory analysis (Chemical, Mineralogical, Physical and Process Tests).
7. Characterized iron ore resources with verifiable data, physical iron ore samples and core logs.
8. Delineated iron ore resource blocks with iron ore resource estimates for presentation to mining investors.

Q.   What are some of the challenges confronting your company in the course of this project?

R.   The challenges faced while carrying out our activities are;

1. Insecurity: As we all know, some of our targets/ blocks for Lot A5 (Iron ore) are located in Zamfara and Kaduna States. These areas are presently inaccessible due to banditry and kidnapping. However, reconnaissance survey had been carried out before the suspension of mining related activities by the Federal Government in some States, particularly Zamfara State.
2. Accessibility: Detailed geological mapping and ground geophysical surveys have been concluded. Access roads to some of the areas earmarked for core drilling have been hindered by lack of bridges to cross most of the perennial river systems.

 Q.   What is the anticipated impact of your explored mineral on the Nigeria economy, should it become successful?

R.   It will facilitate the implementation of the backward integration policies for steel making plants regarding local sourcing of steel making raw materials, particularly iron ore, leading to commencement of liquid steel production in Nigeria using iron ore concentrates instead of scrap iron and steel. This will ensure that standard steel products are produced.

Q.   Tell us about the exploration machineries / equipment that you are deploying to achieve this project’s target.

R.   National Steel Raw materials Exploration Agency, is one of the leading exploration outfits in Nigeria with a fleet of equipments made up of:

1. Five (5) Nos. Drilling Rigs comprising:
2. 2Nos Boyle C6C wire line drill rig, with the capacity to drill up to 1500m
3. 1No Massenza rig, (450m)

• 1No Mustang P4 core drilling rig (450m) and

1. 1No HYDX-6 core drilling rig
2. Two (2) Bull Dozers D9 (Komatsu) and D5 earth moving equipment for access road construction.
3. Laboratory equipment for chemical, mineralogical, physical and process tests comprising:
4. Scanning Electron Microscopy/Electron Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS)
5. Handheld X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) (Skyray Explorer 7000)

• Envi Scintrex Meter (VLF-EM) survey equipment

1. Saries Resistivity Meyer
2. Magnetometer Equipment (GEM) System GSM-19 Ovehauser Model Magnetometer
3. Leica Total Station

• Sample Preparation Equipment (Jaw Crusher, 2Nos. Disc Mill, Saw Cutter, Pulverizing machine,

Total Survey Station

High Target

1. 2 Nos. Low Beds
2. Project Vehicles

Q.    With this being a sort of turnkey project, the government has entrusted so much confidence in you. How confident are you to deliver?

R.   As a reputable organization, NSRMEA has world class geo-scientific equipments for exploration of iron and steel raw materials including well trained, experienced dedicated and motivated workforce that is technology driven and focused and the set of consultants and Competent Person in our team make us very confident of delivering this project.

Q.   How would you rate the performance of Local Geoscientists’ embedded in your technical team? Can you justify they have benefitted technically from this project?

R.   Their performances are quite satisfactory as all the identified targets have been mapped in detail by the local geoscientists and the competent persons have certified their works and endorsed them as having met international standards.

Q.   So far, share some of your key findings with us.

R.   Hematite, magnetite, titanomagnetite and maghematite established as key iron ore minerals found in three main iron ore deposit types (Banded iron ore formation, sedimentary – oolitic/pisolitic and magmatic (igneous) – Desktop studies;

Thirty five (35) iron ore resource targets delineated from remote sensing studies and interpretation/analysis of airborne magnetic & radiometric survey data covering the five (5) iron ore blocks being investigated;

Eleven (11) iron ore targets out of 35 recommended for detailed geological mapping following reconnaissance survey of 28 out of the 35 delineated survey targets

Seven (7) out of the eleven (11) recommended for ground geophysical survey investigation

Three (3) target areas so far recommended for core drilling arising from favorable chemical and mineralogical analysis and size of mineralized areas.

Q.   If this project becomes successful, do you see Nigeria on track to become a world class mining destination?

R.   Yes, of course!

Q.   Itemize for us your operational procedures / stages in the course of this project. The Exploration projects of the iron ore deposits are done in various stages

NIMEP Mandates:

1. Geophysical survey for identifying areas of magnetic anomaly
2. Prospecting & Geological Mapping
   1. Mapping
   2. Sampling
   3. Sample analyses

• Site investigation for confirmation of site selection

1. Remote sensing and large scale geological data acquisition for integration with geophysical data. This data are used during future exploration stages
2. Initial stage diamond drilling
   1. Drilling,
   2. Sampling
   3. Sample analysis
3. Evaluation of sites and reporting

Future tasks:

• Advanced studies for economic analyses
  1. Scoping Study or preliminary economic analyses
  2. Pre-Feasibility Study
  3. Feasibility Study
  4. Mine construction
  5. Production

Q.   Let’s talk about your technical team, with the significance of the project, what is the internationally recognized certification of your competent person such as JORC etc?

R.   A competent person by virtue of the Registered Membership with SME and Certified Professional Geologist category of membership with AIPG.

 Q.   Would you confirm that the project timeline is sufficient?

R.   The timeline is not feasible due to inception challenges and the raining season that hindered operations

Q.   Any word of advice to the government, going forward.

R.   Continue with the derisking efforts of the mining sector as this would facilitate the attraction of mining investors needed to put Nigeria back into the global mining map.