FG saves $300m annually from ban on Barite imports – Minister

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja at the ninth edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration Scorecard 2015 to 2023 series organised by the Ministry of Information and Culture

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the scorecard series was launched as part of the efforts of the ministry to showcase the numerous achievements of the administration.

Presenting the scorecards of his ministry, Adegbite said the ban on barite importation was part of the efforts of the Federal Government to ensure the downstream mineral policies took effect.

“When we came into office in 2019, we realised that the oil and gas industry use barite in their oil drilling and they were importing the mineral from Morocco to the tune of 300 million dollars every year.

"We also realised that the country has abundance of barite deposits but the problem was that we were not processing it.

“So, the ministry took it upon itself as a project and in 2021, we were able to produce made-in-Nigeria Barite with American Petroleum Institute (API) standard.

“Now, nobody is importing barite into Nigeria anymore saving the country 300 million dollars annually that was being spent on imports of barite to the country,’’ he said.

The minister said within a year of production, Nigeria had attained excess capacity of barite and making plans to export the mineral into places like Ghana and South Africa.

“These are places that have just discovered oil and of course, they need barite as well.

“We will ensure they can get it cheaper to buy from Nigeria than to go to the northern part of Africa,’’ he said.

The minister also disclosed that his ministry had discovered new minerals that they did not know existed in the country.

According to him, the minerals included nickel, cobalt chromium and tracks of lithium.

He said the newly discovered minerals were called the “Future metals’’, adding “this is where the whole world is headed’’.

The minister also disclosed that they were auctioning bitumen blocks to 26 serious investors which had shown interest in its mining.

Adegbite said the process would culminate in the concession of some of the blocks to the investors which would be given fairly limited time to start producing in Nigeria.

He said the process would make the country sufficient in bitumen, lower the cost of building roads and create import substitution.

According to the minister, Nigeria has a sufficient quantity of bitumen deposits in Edo, Ogun, Ondo, and Lagos states.