Indigenous firm commences bitumen exploitation in Ondo State.

Chinazor Megbolu |

An indigenous firm, South West Bitumen Limited, has announced commencement in large-scale exploitation of bitumen in Nigeria.

The company said they are prepared to kick off the commodity’s mining in Lamidifa community in Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State after obtaining a 25-Year Renewable Operational Mining Licence from the Federal Government three years ago to exploit the commodity in southern Ondo State.

The organisation discosed that the exploitation will lead to the country becoming the largest bitumen deposit in West Africa.

A representative of the South West Bitumen, Mr. Adeiya Oluwatominiyi, said the company has moved earth-moving machinery including excavators, bulldozers and wheel loaders to site in preparation to commence work.

“The bitumen in Ondo State, unlike petroleum, is in tar sand, which could be exploited from the topsoil and taken to the yard for processing,” he said.

He further noted that the company had the ambition of beginning with modular processing for its pilot operations through the use of German-made technology.

According to him; “this is a pilot case. It is a 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 heat it with required technology.”

Meanwhile, the Mining Engineer, Wilfred Akinyeke, posited that the firm aims to produce 20 tons of bitumen monthly with the expectation to hit 50,000 tonnes monthly when it attains full capacity operation.