The President, Nigerian Metallurgical Society (NMS), Professor Suleiman Bolaji Hassan, said foreigners coming to the country for mineral exploration usually take away heavy minerals through crafty methods.
Hassan made this known at the ongoing 34th Conference and Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the society with a theme ‘Exploration and Exploitation of Minerals for National Development and Sustainability’, taking place at the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), Zaria.
He said there was need for synergy among government, academia, industry and other stakeholders to develop the mineral and steel sectors of the country.
He added: “You cannot develop the steel industry without talking about the exploration and exploitation of mineral resources because it is from these mineral resources you get a lot of other raw materials to be used to run the steel plants.”a