Description

Dolomite is an anhydrous carbonate mineral that consists of calcium magnesium carbonate. It is a key component of dolostone and dolomitic marble. It is a vitreous pearly mineral available in different colors including white, pink, green, brown, black, etc. It is preferred as a substitute for limestone in the construction industry.

Dolomite is a solid mineral that occurs in several areas in Nigeria, mainly the Southwest and Middle belt regions of the country.

Its occurrences arise from the hydrothermal metasomatism or diagnosis of limestone in such places.
The production of dolomite in Nigeria as a natural resource dated back to the year 1960. That was actually the period of time when dolomite was discovered in Lokoja, Kogi state for the first time.

Subsequently, the development of Igbeti marble deposits followed suit, before the others were founded as follows: Oreke dolomite of Kawara state, Alagutan dolomite field in Ori Ire, Oyo state, and then the Ikpeshi dolomite despite Edo state, Nigeria.

The key application of dolomite is as a refractory and then as a flux in the steel & iron industry. In the calcined form, it is used as a steelmaking slag flux, where in addition to increasing slag fluidity the magnesia content of the product helps protect and improve the lives of the steel vessel’s refractory linings. As a result, calcined dolomite accounted for the largest share of the market in 2019.

Glass & ceramics is also a vital end-user segment of the market. Lime is introduced in glass melt with dolomite and limestone. The magnesia content in the mineral improves the durability of the glass and inhibits the devitrification process, which holds significance in flat glass production. It also finds application in container glass.

The global dolomite market size was valued at USD 2.25 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of three point eight percent (3.8%) from 2020 to 2027. The market growth is attributed to the large-scale steel production across the world owing to its widespread applications.

However, the product demand shall be sluggish at least for a couple of years on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a drastic impact on the global economy affecting the operations of almost all industries, including mining. The virus outbreak has propelled mining companies to suspend their operations, thereby, impacting the production of mineral.

In addition, amidst this critical situation, the production activities of the end-use industries of the market including iron & steel, construction, glass, and others are also running at minimal capacity, which is anticipated to have a negative impact on the dolomite demand for 2020 to 2021.

This report seeks to examine the financial viability or otherwise of establishing dolomite milling and packaging plant in Nigeria.

In Nigeria, Dolomite is witnessing high demand from the ceramics, rubber, glass, cement, agricultural, steel & iron industries.

The production capacity of the proposed milling plant is two (2) tons per hour and the plant would operate at eighty percent (80%) of the installed capacity for three hundred (300) working days per annum for ten (10) hours per day and producing six hundred ans forty (640) tons of milled dolomite bi-monthly packed in fifty (50) kilogramm polypropylene (PP) woven sacks with input output ratio of 1:0.95.