Recently, highly unusual nickel worth billion of United States of American dollars was discovered by an Australian mining syndicate led by Hugh Morgan in Northern, Kaduna, to be precise.
Media
reports say a Facebook user Jaafar Jaafar shared the post of his friend
Rufa’i Dabo, who wrote an interesting post after he visited Bagwai and
Shanono LGAs in Kano.
Jaafar Jaafar Wrote:
Fifteen kilometres into the dense
farmland, lies a deposit of gold right under our noses. Gold is mined by
locals in limestone rocks and shallow ditches. Sometimes it is washed
away by running water as "alluvial gold".
Locals use makeshift equipment and
primitive tools to dig or trap gold from running water. Hundreds of
ditches have been dug and left uncovered, posing a major environmental
challenge.
The locals have done all they could for
government intervention by securing a mining licence and getting
investors that can give them jobs and provide the much needed
infrastructure (roads, schools, etc) as corporate social responsibility.
According to the locals, it is sold @ N10,000 per gram and N2,000 per
50kg of unprocessed and unrefined limestone rocks. At the moment there
is no case of lead poisoning but the environment is ravaged by gullies
and erosion.
It is a closely guarded secret of the
locals and their only source of livelihood. Sometimes when accidents
occur for example, an artisan is buried in a collapsed hole, the
authorities aren't told. They are so scared they will be stopped.
The earliest feasibility study dates
back to the colonial era, and another done in the 70's. This discovery
has great potential for the state and the country at large especially @
times when the global price of oil and gas is dwindling.
This is a call to government officials,
legislators, researchers, academicians, politicians, and investors to
explore the potentials of gold mining in Kano so we can secure an
alternative source of income for the state.
Besides the later, government's
intervention is also needed urgently, to help the locals with tools,
equipment, mining gear, gloves, boots, first aid. They also need to be
taught basic safety rules in mining.
Should all these claims be truthful,
Nigeria is indeed blessed and will soon be extricated from the economic
recess currently being witnessed
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