An indigenous firm, South West Bitumen Limited (SWB) has commenced modular exploitation of Africa’s largest bitumen deposits in the southern part of Ondo State
The firm, which has secured a 25-year renewable operational mining license for the exploitation of the mineral deposit, has already deployed initial processing and mining equipment to the operational base which is located at Lamidifa in Irele local government area of the state.
Taking reporters through the yard at the weekend, the representative of Southwest Bitumen, Adeiya Oluwatominiyi said earth moving equipment like bulldozers, excavator and wheel loaders have been brought for the mining of the bitumen. He described the process as a modular one likened to a pilot one.
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He disclosed that unlike exploitation of petroleum, the bitumen in the state is in Tar Sand which can be excavated from the top soil and taken to the yard for processing.
Oluwatominiyi explained that the processing equipment is German-made and done with exact requirement for the exploitation of the particular type of bitumen in the state.
“We have brought the earth moving equipment like the bulldozer, excavator, and the wheel loaders. We use of bulldozer for the clearing of the identified outcrop after which we take the excavator to extract the tar sand and stockpile them in the yard for processing
“The type of bitumen we have is tar sand. After we must have deployed the bulldozer, the excavator will load the tipper and bring it here for processing. This is where we will be doing the processing.
“This is a pilot case. It is modular exploitation. What we have in Nigeria is tar sand bitumen. Not like in petroleum when you are tapping from it to get bitumen. We are not getting it from the cracking of anything. What we need to do is to heat it with the required technology,” Oluwatominiyi said.
The company according to its mining engineer, Wilfred Akinyeke, would gradually have its production capacity move from 20,000 metric tonnes to 50,000 metric tonnes monthly.
Commissioner for information and orientation, Donald Ojogo said the Governor Rotimi Akeredolu-administration has been pursuing the exploitation of the bitumen and the establishment of the deep seaport.
He noted that the bitumen exploitation has started taking shape with the assurance of its reality. He said it was the first time any government in the state would be expending resources on the exploitation.
“What they are trying to do is a pilot project. This is the first time any company will expend so much on this project. This is the first time a company will take the license and efforts and commitment would be seen unlike in the past where people took the license and failed to utilise it,” Ojogo said.
