Dr. Umar Albarka Hassan is the immediate past Director-General of the National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency, NSRMEA Kaduna. He spoke with The Rock Post on the sideline of the recently concluded 3-day Annual General Meeting and International Conference of the Nigerian Society of Mining Engineers, NSME in Abuja where he highlighted on the footprints he left behind in the agency.
Give us a sense of what National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency, NSRMEA was like when you got there and the state in which you left it.
When I got to National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency, I met an agency that has been in the business of exploring for steel raw materials through geological mappings amongst other exercises. Upon my arrival, I observed some gaps, especially in the area of analysis of samples collected from field works. In mineral exploration, it is not just enough to go to the field to explore for mineral resource deposits, but the question should be, what is it that you have gotten from the field? Have you been able to get the resources or deposits you are looking for? You can only do that by analysis. So when I got to the agency, I noticed that that aspect was lacking. So while I was there, we tried to make sure we established a Functional mineral testing laboratory that enabled us analyse whatever samples we were able to generate in all our exploration activities. These involved the acquisition of geochemical and mineralogical testing equipment such as xrf and xrd equipment for chemical and mineralogical analysis as well as mineral separation equipment for facilitating quality and quantity assessment including suitability studies needed to establish their respective industrial uses in the iron and steel industry.
I also noticed that the geophysical survey unit of the agency lacked vital equipment needed to facilitate their works of locating buried mineral resource formations. In this regard, we were able to acquire ground Magnetometer GSMP-24, 48 Channel Seismic equipment and Autograv – CGS Gravimetric amongst others through capital allocation and World Bank assisted MinDiver project. Staff were also trained on geophysical survey data acquisition and interpretation. This is in addition to the acquisition of a diamond core drilling rig along with Engineering Geology Equipment. To the glory of God, as at the moment I completed my 4-year tenure, we were able to procure critical laboratory assets needed to facilitate chemical and mineralogical characterisation of all steel raw materials mineral samples. Similarly, for geophysical exploration, we were also able to get the agency adequately equipped for it’s tasks. On steel raw materials exploration activities, we were able to successfully complete the NIMEP lot A5 iron ore exploration works with the discovery of Nasko-Libele, Niger State as an iron ore endowed area in addition to the establishment of Tajimi iron ore deposit as an iron ore resource that can be exploited to complement Itakpe iron deposit in producing iron ore for Nigeria’s steel industry. We were also able to establish bauxite resource in Ekiti state in addition to that of Manbila Plateau. Manganese resources were also established to occur in Kogi and Cross River States amongst other states. Similar finds were also made for silica sand deposits in Ondo, Ogun, Katsina, Niger and Cross River States. Security challenges in some primary locations made it possible for new Discoveries to be made in other states, especially for Manganese and Chromite resources.
Your experience and capacity is outstanding, apart from the fact that we left a topnotch laboratory in the agency. While you were there, did you make any effort to ensure that the private sector engages the agency on consultancy basis?
While I was there, we made it a point of duty to promote the activities of the agency in terms of adverts and participation in conferences both local and international, letting operators be aware of the capacity and services the agency has. In most of the conferences and proceedings that we participated in, if you observed carefully, you will notice that we had adverts, telling people the services of the agency. Apart from the prints, we ensured we made presentations, informing conference participants and other stakeholders what the agency has and what we do, of course we let them know what kind of equipment we had and how it can benefit them. Even at the moment, we constantly drum it on their ear that they should make it a habit to always participate in conferences, workshops and seminars, the operators in particular. As you rightly observed, not many operators are aware of what services are available in the agency, and it is only through active participation in those kind of fora that operators will be aware of immense benefits they will derive from NSRMEA.
Looking at the capacity you left behind in terms of staffing and their capacity to add value to modern exploration activities, would you say you are satisfied?
There is always room for improvement but I will say one thing, that in terms of practical ability and capacity to carry out exploration activities and analysis, what I left behind is better than what I met, there is no doubt about that. Staff were engaged in exploration activities, while I was there, there was physical exercise, people were going to the field to work. There was, of course continuous training of the staff that we met and I believe that significantly improved their capacity. Like I said, there is room for improvement and I hope and pray that they will continue in that trend to ensure that the capacity of staff is effectively enhanced to enable them undertake any exercise that may come their way.
How far is Nigeria from achieving self-sufficiency in steel production especially with the humongous amount expended annually in importation of building materials?
We have not even started producing any steel in Nigeria let alone sufficiency. However, the plans that we have on ground to enable us commence iron and steel production has been encouraging. The efforts being made to get Ajaokuta Steel Company working is a pointer to this. Again, the establishment of Reduced Direct Iron production plant at Gujeni by the African Natural Resources and Mines Ltd will actually fast track liquid steel production in Nigeria as their product can be puchased by private steel plants including Ajaokuta to produce steel of high quality as against the current scrap steel recycling going on in the country. I hope and pray that the African Natural Resource and Mines Ltd will in a matter of few months or years complete their plants and make the product available steel producers in the country thus saving the country foreign exchange that would have been expended in importing these products or their substitutes. Ajaokuta Steel Company will still come up in no distant time I believe but for now, we are far from self-sufficiency because we have not even started.
What legacy are you proud of leaving behind in NSRMEA?
Like I said earlier, the laboratory is one thing that we established and I believe the sky will be their limit. It’s a matter of the current administration of the agency to continue from where I stopped. Another thing is, the field exercise, the exploration activities we were able to execute have also been something that is commendable. I believe they will continue in terms of the field works we undertook while I was there. Our capacity development also speaks volume, we paid attention to testing and it is only by improving the capacity the capacity of the staff through continuous trading, participation in conferences and workshops that new advancements can be acquired.
