Granite: Investing In Quarry Mining Plant.

The announcement by the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, at the recently held Nigeria Mining Summit in Abuja, that the federal Government is working towards new mining sector fund of $600 million to be raised via Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) and other investors, may have opened a new vista of opportunities for those that intend to venture into the business, especially quarry/granite.

The federal Government through the Dr. Kayode Fayemi-led Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, however, is yet to come up with modalities on how it intends to disburse the funds, the qualification requirements and the general framework for the fund.

But having unveiled its plan to float the fund, the time is now for would be investors to begin preparation towards tapping into this novel idea that may eventually turn the fortunes around for the country’s mining sector while creating massive employment for the sector.

It is equally on record that the activities in the mining sector, if well harnessed, are capable of generating over 500, 000 jobs but funding remained a major stumbling block to the realization of the full potential in that sector.

But hope seems to be at the end of the tunnel as the Federal Government has equally announced fresh plans to grant the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development access to ₦30 billion under the mining sector component of the Natural Resource Development Fund (NRDF).

On the other hand, it stated that another $150 million has been raised globally from the world bank for mining diversification. With all these funds, the stage is now set for serious entrepreneurs to come up with a bust business plans, which may eventually give them access to these funds.

Identifying Granite

As at the last count, the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development has discovered about 33 commercially available industrial minerals in Nigeria and granite is one of such industrial minerals. According to Foraminifera , a market research outfit, the granite deposit in Nigeria is estimated to be in billions of metric tonnes. The earth crust is filled with different types of rock, ranging from igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. Granite is an igneous rock formed from the cooling of magma in an exothermic process.

Granite, popularly known as chippings/gravel, is a very hard stone good for building and construction works globally. It is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive felsic, igneous rock. It has a medium to coarse texture occasionally with some individual crystals larger than the groundmass forming a rock known as porphyry. It can be pink to dark grey or even black depending on their chemistry and minerology.

Granite is a hard, usually grey, stone used for building and the most common rock type on the continental land masses. It is widely distributed throughout the continent crust of the earth and is the most abundant basement rock that underlies the relatively thin sedimentary veneer of the continents.

 

Locating Granite

 

Nigeria is richly endowed with granite stone and other related solid minerals like marble, dolomite and basalt. It is found in Enugu, Ebonyi, Kogi, Plateau, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Nasarawa and Ekiti States. Hence, granite is among the most available and affordable building materials. Nigeria being a country located in the tropics has these rocks in commercial quantity and it is a means of livelihood for many in some parts of the country.

In the past, it was mined manually, but now there are sophisticated equipment that make quarrying very easy. Lagos is not an igneous environment where granite can be found. All the real estate developers, contractors and civil engineering and construction companies get their granites form nearby towns. Its hard nature made it a very suitable and durable material for most civil engineering and construction works.

 

The Market

In 2004, the total production was about 15million tonnes whereas the demand was 16.2 million tonnes leaving a supply gap of 1.2 million tonnes. The market is vast even to the international level. That is, the product could be sold locally or exported out of the country with over 200 percent return on investment. Granite business is one that can be done with people of all classes.

The business could be done in large scale and small scale as the investor’s financial strength is. As stated earlier, Lagos is one of the fastest developing cities in Nigeria with lots of building and construction works done daily but Lagos does not have granite so all the ones consumed in Lagos come from the nearby towns. The market is stratified into three, including large scale, small, medium and small scale.

Floating a quarry

An investor would require millions of naira to start and operate a quary. The actual cost would be based on the scale the investor wants to start the business. The cost of the machinery required for the crushing of the granite make up between 60 and 70 per cent of the cost of establishing the business and is based on three factors, which are the input of granite, the output of the granite and the capacity of the machine required.

The investor would need to acquire/lease a rocky land for a period of one-five years and site a quarry for the manufacture of granite for sale to developers or to be used as raw material for the production of flooring tiles, marbles and antiquities.
After leasing the rocky land, the investor will then have to purchase heavy quarrying equipment including the crusher, excavator, pay loader, waybridge, dumper, carriage trucks (10-40 tonnes capacity).

It is, however, advisable to import the equipment from USA, Europe or China as the locally made ones are of very low quality, thus not reliable. The investor can choose to lease a complete quarry that has been poorly managed with all the equipment intact.
After this is done, the next thing is technical expertise. The technical know-how aspect is very important because this is the key to success in this business. You either engage the services of Chinese or a Nigerian.

Further to this, after fixing the technical and mechanical need of the business, another thing is effective and efficient management of men, machines and materials to achieve result (profit making). Thus, there is need for a business and or management expert that can make things happen.
Would-be investors should note that no matter how good their production, machines and appliances are, workers without good marketing skill, structure and strategy will cause the business to fail.

Medium Scale Operation

As a medium scale investor, the investor buys from the quarry owners and sells to the final users who may be real estate developers, contractors, civil engineers and resellers. A good supplier could be lucky to buy on credit from the quarry owners or agents and pay back after he/she has supplied and collected money. This could be achieved through good business relationship and integrity.

Small scale operation.

This does not require any capital to begin; all you need is the ability to market the product by moving around major cities like Lagos and informing developers, contractors that one can supply them granite for their building and construction work.
And immediately the marketer secures a deal to supply, they contact a registered supplier who will provide the goods and they get their commission. The commission is usually based on negotiations with the buyer and the supplier.

Investing in Quarry Mining Plant.