With its plan of diversifying the economy, the federal government projects that barite production and usage in the country will further boost Nigeria’s bid to conserve scare foreign exchange and curb dependence of the mineral; AYONI M. AGBABIAKA reports.
Barite
Research say barite because of its higj specific gravity and many qualities is suitable for a wide range of industrial, medical, and manufacturing uses.
Barite is a mineral composed of barium sulfate (BaSO4). It receives its name from the Greek word “barys” which means “heavy.” This name is in response to barite’s high specific gravity of 4.5, which is exceptional for a nonmetallic mineral.
Uses of Barite
Most barite produced is used as a weighting agent in drilling muds. This is what 99 per cent of the barite consumed in the United States is used for. These high-density muds are pumped down the drill stem, exit through the cutting bit and return to the surface between the drill stem and the wall of the well. This flow of fluid does two things: it cools the drill bit; and, the high-density barite mud suspends the rock cuttings produced by the drill and carries them up to the surface.
Barite is also used as a pigment in paints and as a weighted filler for paper, cloth and rubber. The paper used to make some playing cards has barite packed between the paper fibers. This gives the paper a very high density that allows the cards to be “dealt” easily to players around a card table. Barite is used as a weighting filler in rubber to make “anti-sail” mudflaps for trucks.
Barite is the primary ore of barium, which is used to make a wide variety of barium compounds. Some of these are used for x-ray shielding. Barite has the ability to block x-ray and gamma-ray emissions. Barite is used to make high-density concrete to block x-ray emissions in hospitals, power plants, and laboratories.
Its compounds are also used in diagnostic medical tests. If a patient drinks a small cup of liquid that contains a barium powder in a milkshake consistency, the liquid will coat the patient’s esophagus. An x-ray of the throat taken immediately after the “barium swallow” will image the soft tissue of the esophagus (which is usually transparent to x-rays) because the barium is opaque to x-rays and blocks their passage.
A “barium enema” can be used in a similar way to image the shape of the colon.
World usage
The oil and gas industry is the primary user of barite worldwide. There, it is used as a weighting agent in drilling mud. This is a growth industry, as global demand for oil and natural gas has been on a long-term increase. In addition, the long-term drilling trend is more feet of drilling per barrel of oil produced.
This has caused the price of barite to increase. Price levels during 2012 were between 10 and 20 per cent higher than 2011 in many important markets. The typical price of drilling mud barite is about $150 per metric ton at the mine.
However, substitutes for barite in drilling mud include celestite, ilmenite, iron ore, and synthetic hematite. None of these substitutes have been effective at displacing barite in any major market area. They are too expensive or do not perform competitively.
World producers
China and India are the leading producers of barite, and they also have the largest reserves. The United States does not produce enough barite to supply its domestic needs. In 2011 the United States produced about 700,000 metric tons of barite and imported about 2,300,000 metric tons.
Barite in Nigeria
The Nigeria is blessed with abundant mineral resources; fossil fuels and solid minerals. The most popular being the fossil fuels since these constitute the nation’s greatest foreign exchange earner. They have, therefore, tended to overshadow the solid mineral sector of mining industry.
It is reassuring to note that the government has progressively in recent past years shown great interest in the exploitation of Nigeria’s solid minerals as a means of diversifying its economic base, putting in place National policy on minerals metals in Nigeria and other such policy documents in order to drive investment in the sector.
Exploitation of the non-metallic minerals has not attained the desired level, mainly because of the various constraints associated with its exploitation, development and processing for utilization. Many of the non-metallic minerals, which are vital to the industrial take off of the country, have been found in commercial quantities within the country.
They include limestone, dolomite, marble, kaolin, barite, diatomite, feldspar, quartz and silica sands, gypsum, talc, silimanite, kyanite, phosphate, salt and bentonite.
Barite is an important weighing ingredient and its usefulness as an addition in drilling mud is that when ground or crushed and added to the fluid, it increases the density of the fluid to counteract formation pressure as well as provide density to the drilling bit for drilling mud in the petroleum industry, The higher the specific gravity of barite, the more useful it is in drilling mud formulation.
It is estimated that Nigeria has over two million (2,000,000) tons of barite ore deposit of scattered in different parts of the country to include Benue, Nassarawa, Plateau and Cross River states.
Stakeholders resolve
Stakeholders in the mining sector have therefore called for a stop to the importation of barite into the country as it is blessed with quality barite for it’s domestic manufactures.
The stakeholders at a forum on local barite development in Nigeria stated that the country has the mineral in commercial quantities that can be exported.
Minister of Mines and Steel Development Arc Olamilekan Adegbite speaking at the forum in Abuja, Thursday stated that, “Evidence from our recent demand/gap analysis shows that out of the total value of Nigeria’s industrial minerals imports in 2016, barite represented 3.6 per cent.
“The country spends millions of hard earned dollars every year importing barite, a mineral we are abundantly endowed with in the northern part of the country.
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He stated that, “With each import of barite we are shipping thousands of jobs from our country to other countries.
This is why I am quite delighted to initiate a road map for the development of barite that would reverse this trend,” he said.
“We are creating a new framework that would promote the local production of barites that meets international acceptable standards.
“To meet our overarching objective, we have mapped out a development strategy towards creating a sustainable industry in Nigeria to support, regulate and monitor stakeholders along the barite value chain.
“This process will assist local companies with proven reserves that meet the industry standards to develop capacity and close the demand/supply gap that exists in the country currently in the short term.
“The long term plan is to place a ban on the importation of barite once the local market is satisfied and, export barite to other African countries where oil and gas drilling activities are taking place. This will lead to jobs creation and boost the nation’s revenue base in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision for a more diversified, inclusive, and sustainable economy,” he added.
President Association of Mines and Processors of Barite (AMAPOB) chief Stephen also stated that, “the quality of Nigeria barite is world standard” but “because of policy inconsistency, barite was allowed to be imported to the country.”
Director-general Nigeria Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) Dr Abdulrazaq Garba said that Nigeria have industry standard barite in Nassarawa, Gombe, Benue, Cross River, Plateau, Taraba, Adamawa and Zamfara amongst others.
He, therefore, charged the committee to ensure an end to issues of barite in the country.
