The government of Nigeria is set to launch proudly made in Nigeria barite for the oil industry this month. Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc Olamilekan Adegbite disclosed the report and said the event will take place on Thursday October 28, 2021.
The minister said the launch will save $300 million that Nigerian spends annually on barite importation. According to him already 50 bags of barite mined, milled and bagged in Nigeria is ready for the launch in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
Major milestone
He also disclosed that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Slyva, will launch the made in Nigeria barite, and the Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, will also be present along with the Executive Secretary at Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Simbi Wabote, including stakeholders in the oil industry and their counterparts in the mining sector.
“What we are doing today is a major milestone along the roadmap that was created in 2016 and 2017. Barite is a material used in the oil industry and Nigeria has barite awashed all over the country, especially in Benue, Taraba, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Plateau, Borno, Gombe and Cross River States,” said Mr. Adegbite.
“The process has always been processing our raw ore to industrial grade that would be useful for the industry, and tt is not limited to barite alone. We have that in so many other minerals. We are coming up very shortly with a council it is called the ‘downstream policy’ that would discourage the exportation of raw ore from Nigeria. The process has always been processing our raw ore to industrial grade that would be useful for the industry, and tt is not limited to barite alone,” he added.
