FG Reserves 3bn Tons Iron Ore for Ajaokuta
The Federal Government has reserved an estimated three billion tons of iron ore deposits to feed the Ajaokuta Steel Rolling Complex once it becomes fully operational.
Director-General of the National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency (NSRMEA), Kolawole Michael, disclosed this during an assessment of Nigeria’s readiness for the plant’s revival.
He said the move aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s directive to stop exporting raw minerals and instead use them to create jobs and industrial value.
Michael noted that the Itakpe iron ore deposits are of premium quality, describing them as having “no equal, both in quality and in quantity.” However, mining has been limited because Ajaokuta remains dormant.
He explained that the steel sector was designed as an interdependent ecosystem: NSRMEA to explore, Itakpe to mine, and Ajaokuta to process and produce steel.
“The abundance of iron ore in Itakpe cannot be mined right now because there are no off-takers like the Ajaokuta Steel plant,” he said.
Laboratory tests confirmed Itakpe’s ore as the “flagship of steel development in Nigeria,” but Michael stressed that production requires limestone and coal alongside iron ore.
While limestone deposits have been licensed to cement firms, Nigeria still needs to refine coking coal from Obi-Lafia, Nasarawa State, to reduce imports.
He urged government support for further exploration, saying, “We have to establish the mineability of this coal so we can reduce coal importation to Nigeria.”
The agency’s work is supported by the Early-Stage Mineral Exploration and Research Grant Endowment (EMERGE), designed to de-risk mining and unlock an estimated $750 billion in untapped mineral wealth.
Minister of Steel Development Abubakar Audu is engaging international partners and investors to bring modern technology into the sector, but Michael warned that NSRMEA needs critical funding to modernise laboratories and prospecting tools, including drones, to fully deliver on its mandate.