The Director General of the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA), Dr Garba Abdulrazaq has said that “apart from exploration activities, the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency has commenced the deployment of geochronology and age-dating of rocks and minerals” to support the effort of government at making the mining sector more attractive to investors, stating that the strategy will significantly contribute to economic diversification and national development.
Dr Garba, who made the disclosure at a special session with prospective mining investors in Abuja, recently, said the outcome of efforts at geochronology has confirmed that the NGSA is achieving set goals.
“The NGSA has a development partnership with Curtin University, Western Australia, and we are achieving set goals on geochronology in respect of rocks in Nigeria,” he said.
Explaining how geochronology is being deployed, the specialist said: “Geochronology can also be used in exploration-targeting,” stating that solid mineral explorationists need age-dating of rocks to be able to know the particular age of rocks in a defined. He said when the age of rocks are known, the information can help to predict the kind of mineralization that will be found in that area.
While saying that age-dating of rocks is very useful in exploration-targeting, the Director General disclosed that the management of the NGSA has set up a research team in that regard.
“This kind of activity is very useful in exploration targeting, and NGSA is working on this with a research team set up by the management.”
“As we speak, the university is currently handing the analysis of rocks from Nigeria to determine their ages as a step toward knowing the kind of mineralization to expect from the region where we got the samples from,” he added.
Dr Garba noted that the underlying objective of embarking on geochronology is to generate reliable geosciences data and information needed to precisely know the age of rocks and the timing of mineralization.
The Director General explained that the datasets are necessary for the development of a robust geoscience information needed in the industry.
Managing Director, Gembu Mining Limited, Mr Emmanuel Omijeh who was guest at the session, described the work-done by the agency in the past two years as “the rapid response Nigeria needs to address the economic challenges caused by Covid-19 and dwindling oil prices, and prepare the sector for influx of sustained investment.”
The guests agreed that the level of preparedness of the NGSA has inspired confidence not only in the organization, but in the Nigeria mining sector as a whole.
Omijeh said the ability of the sector to lead to way, or at least significantly contribute to the realization of economic diversification is no longer in doubt if current efforts are sustained.
