Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Monday approved the engagement of a German firm, GeoScan GmbH, for the search and location of the estimated $700 billion solid minerals deposit in the country.
Briefing newmen after the weekly Council meeting presided over by President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja,
Minister of Solid Minerals, Dele Alake, said the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) wiith the German firm was signed on Sunday when the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, paid a business visit on the President.
Highlighting the significance of the MoU, Alake said it is expected to advance solid minerals exploration, exploitation, and judicious use of the revenue accruing to the federal government.
The Minister said GeoScan GmBH possesses cutting-edge technology capable of exploring mineral deposits up to 10,000 meters below the surface, which is a remarkable advancement in the field of mineral exploration.
He emphasised the cost-effectiveness of this proprietary technology, which, he said, is 80% cheaper than current exploration processes and three times faster in locating underground deposits.
”The gathering of geodata is very expensive. Now this particular technology, which is top notch, is 80% cheaper than current processes in the world, three times faster to locate deposits down underground, ” he said.
Given Nigeria’s vast and unexplored mineral landscape, estimated to be worth around $700 billion, the Minister noted that MoU with GeoScan GmbH presents a significant opportunity for the country.
”We constitute about 0.02% of the global mining budget. With the $700 billion estimation of our solid minerals deposit, we still have over 90% of the entire landscape of Nigeria unexplored.
”And because it’s an expensive business, that underscores the significance of a landmark that we recorded yesterday with the GeoScan GmbH supported also by the German chancellor and our President.
”I’m happy to tell you that there’s no kobo commitment on the part of Nigeria. The company will establish its technology and plant here and move around the country enable us to further explore all the other mineral deposits that we have,” he said.
The Minister pointed out that many critical minerals, essential for the production of electric vehicles, batteries, and other advanced technological equipment, are abundant in Nigeria.
He added that these resources play a crucial role in the global shift toward clean and green energy, aligning with the global trend of addressing climate change.
Alake said the partnership with GeoScan GmbH will help Nigeria fully explore its solid mineral resources, which can make a substantial contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), aligning with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda of positioning solid minerals as a significant economic driver alongside petroleum.
The MOU was signed by Oliver Haeggberg, CEO of GeoScan GmbH, Germany, and Fatima Shinkafi, the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SMDF, representing Nigeria.
Haeggberg was part of the business delegation that accompanied the German Chancellor during his official visit to Nigeria, that met with President Tinubu and the Nigerian delegation at the Business to Government (BTG) roundtable meeting.
Noting that searching and locating mineral resources have always been an arduous and expensive venture in the country, the Minister explained that the engagement of the German firm with latest technology in the industry would save Nigeria about 80 percent of the cost.
He said “now the significance of this epochal event is that this company has the latest top of the line technologies; it’s a proprietary technology for exploration. It means that you can see deep down up to 10,000 meters for the mineral deposits that are available. And if you are vast in the space of solid minerals, you know that it’s exploration, exploitation and extraction and the processes, you would know that exploration is an expensive business. Even the gathering of geo-data is very very expensive.
“Now, this particular technology, which is top notch like I said, is 80% cheaper than current processes in the world, is three times faster to locate deposits down on your ground, and so with our own mineral deposits, that we conservatively estimated at about $700 billion under the ground and scrambling to exploit judiciously, we constitute about 0.02% of the global mining budget. And with this $700 billion estimation of our solid minerals deposit, we still have over 90% of the entire landscape of Nigeria unexplored.”
Deji Elumoye in Abuja
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