Mineral analysis: Agency sets to meet international standard

Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) says it is ready to collaborate with relevant agencies to ensure that results of mineral sampling conducted in its laboratory meet international standard.
Nwegbu Ndubuisi, director-general of the agency, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja.
Ndubuisi said the NGSA and the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development were collaborating with the International Laboratory Facilities to enable the agency achieve the International Standardisation Organisation certification (ISO).
He said the certification would enable results of all mineral samples being conducted in Nigeria to be acceptable globally, adding that thousands of mineral samples being taking abroad by local miners would also stop.
“Without the ISO certification, it is difficult for the International community to accept mineral results from our laboratory analysis. Hopefully, in the next two years we will be in a position where we can proudly say that we can do analysis that will be acceptable to the international community,’’ he said.
According to him, government was encouraging private sector to set up mineral analysis laboratory but due to huge capital involved and bottlenecks, no one is ready to invest in the project.
The National Geosciences Research Laboratory in Kaduna is a centre established by the NGSA to conduct mineral analytical tests.
Nigeria and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on geosciences cooperation at the 2016 Nigeria-China Mining Investment Road show in Beijing.
 
The MoU provides for cooperation between the NGSA and the China Geological Survey (CGS).