19 December 2013, Abuja – Mr Musa Sada, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, said in Abuja on Wednesday that efforts were being made to develop the country’s mineral resources using China’s advanced technology.
The minister said this at bilateral meeting between the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) and the China Geological Survey (CGS) to perfect the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed last year.
The minister, who was represented by his Technical Assistant on Mines, Mr Umar Hassan, said China desired to exploit mineral resources from all corners of the world.
“We have virgin mineral field for china to develop for us and such mineral resources will contribute to our economic development.”
Mr Nwegbu Ndubusi, the Director-General of NGSA, said the country would collaborate in the areas of geological maps, compilation of regional minerals, correlation, geo-data construction and sharing.
Others are geology of environment and geo-hydrology, monitoring and prevention of the geo-hazard, remote sensing, geo-statistics, and geo-chemical analysis.
The agency would also collaborate in the areas of chemical exploration, marine geology, mineral resources exploration technology and methodology as well as research in the basic geology of Nigeria.
He said that China had advanced technology in these areas.
“There is need to improve on the MoU we had on mineral deposits. NGSA deserves to tap into the technology in China as it is more advanced in geo-sciences/explorations.
“For us to get to the level of the best in the world, we need to cue into the technology and expertise of China.”
He said the country needed to improve on its mineral development to attract investors to the mining sector.
Ndubusi said one of the major challenges facing the sector was insufficient geo-sciences data to enable the investors to make investment decision.
“Through this collaboration, the country will improve on its geo-sciences data.
“The whole idea is to locate mineral deposits such as gold for investment as well as to locate minerals that are toxic to the environment.”
He added that the agency would send some of its staff to train in exploration and laboratory analysis in Beijing.
Mr Cai Gang, the Deputy Director, Research and Development Centre, CGS, said they were in Nigeria to implement the MoU signed between China and Nigeria.
He said details of the MoU would be discussed and would also look at the previous and current geo-sciences data conducted by the NGSA.
He said that China would transfer its technology to the country through specific projects.
– NAN
