ASSESSING THE EXTERNAL TRADE DIMENSIONS OF BENEFICIATING NINGI GRAPHITE ORE DEPOSIT OF NORTH-EASTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

The drastic downfall in crude oil prices since the middle of 2014 puts the Nigerian economy under the burden of financial instability as crude oil accounts for 95% of export and foreign exchange receipt. Such macroeconomic condition that shrinks the economy, led to de-industrialisation, higher unemployment rate, loss of foreign exchange earnings, and stifled national development necessitates this research. To this end, the External Trade dimension of Beneficiating Ningi Graphite deposit of North-Eastern Nigeria becomes exigent due to the economic relevance of graphite as a critical engineering material of the 4th industrial revolution. Randomly sampled run-off-mine was prepared and characterized. Sub-sieve analysis was carried out to determine sized fraction and the economic liberation size of the ore. The Modified Bond work index was used to determine the ore grindability. Crude mineral samples were prepared to the economic liberation size, and concentrated by varying the combination of selected frothers and collectors keeping all other flotation conditions constant. The Grubbel-Llyod index was applied to analyse secondary trade data. The results of three crude samples show that Ningi graphite is a low-grade, complex graphite mineral made up of Quartz, Feldspar, Mica, and silicate, as a dominant inclusion with an average of 81.5% SiO2 and 0.4% C graphitic carbon. Its resistance to grinding is approximately 39.77 kWh/ton, while the graphite flake size is approximately between 10-350 μm, and are best liberated at 63 μm. The combination of Pine oil and Kerosene as Frothers and collectors respectively gives the best yield at 96.08% graphite recovery of 42.65% graphitic carbon grade. Finally, a five-year trade study of Nigeria reveals that the dimension of graphite commodity trade is Inter-Industry and non-homogeneous in nature. All the above concludes that, Ningi graphite deposit can be upgraded but not for export as the economic returns of beneficiating the deposit is at the moment not competitive.