Mining industry veteran Hugh Morgan heads a private syndicate that has
made a potentially world class, and highly unusual, nickel discovery in
the heart of Nigeria.
The discovery is unusual because the nickel
is found in small balls up to 3mm in diameter of a high purity in
shallow soils in what could be the surface expression of a much bigger
hard-rock nickel field.
The nickel balls, rumoured to grade
better than 90 per cent nickel and thought to be a world first given
their widespread distribution, offer the potential for early cashflow
from a simple and low-cost screening operation to fund a full assessment
of the find that has exploration circles buzzing.
Details on the
find are sketchy. When asked to comment last week, Mr Morgan would only
say it was for the Nigerian government to make an announcement.
Nickel
is no stranger to the Liberal Party bulwark and former Reserve Bank
board member. Between 1990 and 2003 he was chief executive of Western
Mining Corporation (taken over by BHP Billiton in 2005) when it was
Australia’s biggest nickel producer.
What is known is that
Nigeria’s Minister for Solid Minerals, Kayode Fayemi, is listed to speak
at the three-day Africa Down Under mining conference at Perth’s Pan
Pacific Hotel next month, with past conferences drawing bumper crowds.
Dr
Fayemi is to speak first on Wednesday September 7, and Mr Morgan will
follow along with consulting geologist Louisa Lawrance. Mr Morgan is
listed as speaking as a director of the private company Comet Minerals.
The
discovery, Titan, is rumoured to be close to Dangoma, a small farming
town about 160km northeast of the Nigerian capital of Abuja.
Dr
Fayemi is one of 13 African mines ministers to attend this year’s Africa
Down Under, reflecting the importance African nations place on
attracting Australian mining expertise and funding for mining.
Nigeria
itself has a stated ambition to grow its mining sector as an offset to
its dependence on the oil industry, which has been ravaged by the slump
in prices.
It has said it wants to attract billions of dollars of
new investment in the sector, a push that could benefit from likely
international interest in the Titan find by Mr Morgan’s private
syndicate.
Earlier this month, Dr Fayemi told Bloomberg that about $US5 billion would “kickstart the mining sector”.
“In
two to five years, we want to have started production of iron ore,
lead, zinc, bitumen, nickel, coal and gold at a serious scale,” he said.