The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, has opened a barite processing plant in Cross River State in an effort to restrict barite imports and encourage domestic production.
Olamilekan Adegbite, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, noted the importance of the barite processing plant’s location in Ugaga, Cross State, during his remarks at the plant’s official opening.
“I am pleased to speak to you on this August occasion, which marks the commissioning of the Barite Processing Plant in Ugaga, Cross River State, South-South, Nigeria,” he said.
“Ugaga was chosen as the site for the barite processing plant based on its rich barite deposits among the South-South State and its proximity to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where the processed barites are required for oil exploration in accordance with local content and value addition policy in Nigeria.”
He claims that because of the barite processing plant’s location in Ugaga, small-scale and artisanal barite miners in the region can easily access the facility to process their ore before it is shipped out and sold.
The facility will process barite to the international API standard, making it suitable for export to other parts of the world to generate foreign exchange, Dr. Oluwatoyin Akinlade, the permanent secretary of the ministry, said in her remarks.
The made-in-Nigeria barite was introduced in October 2021 by the Federal Government, who claimed it would save the nation the foreign exchange needed to import the product.
In order to avoid the explosive release of gas and oil during drilling, barite is used as a weighting material in oil and gas drilling.
The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board’s Executive Secretary, Simbi Wabote, made the announcement during the launch in 2021 that the use of imported barites by the country’s oil and gas sector would end as of 2022.
The commissioning of the barite processing plant was an effort to promote the barite made in Nigeria even though the ban has not yet been put into effect.
Last year, it was reported that barite reserves in Nigeria totaling over 20 million metric tons might spark investor competition.
According to rumors, the Federal Government is collaborating with TotalEnergies to invest in mining the nation’s reserves of barite.
According to other reports, universities that offer petroleum engineering in regions where Nigeria has barite reserves and professional organizations like the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists were also involved in the project.
