Chinese province undertakes geological mapping of Cross River

The Sister-State agreement entered into by Cross River State with Shaaan Xi Province of  China is already beginning to bear fruit with the arrival of experts from the Chinese province to undertake the geological mapping of the entire state.

Receiving a delegation from the Chinese province in Calabar, the state governor, Senator Ben Ayade, said the exercise was geared towards establishing a comprehensive and detailed database of all solid minerals deposit in the state.

Speaking while leading the Chinese team on a courtesy call on the governor, Commissioner for  Solid Minerals, George Oben -echi  said visit of the delegation was the outcome of a sister-state agreement earlier signed by Cross River ànd Shaan Xi Province.

He further disclosed that the governor of the Chinese province has already set up the Cross River/shanxi bilateral trade centre in china while also disclosing that efforts were in top gear to set up a similar office in Calabar.

The head of the Chinese delegation, Mr Fan Jing said they were in the state  " based on the MOU we signed with you (Ayade) during your last visit to Shaan Xi Province."
He said the team consists of  "senior geologists and l think we can provide you with good geological data."

He expressed confidence in the team’s ability to carry out a detailed survey of the various mineral deposits in the state,

Governor Ayade said: "l am very convinced that you and your team are very senior geologists in China and l know you will deploy your equipment  soil aimed at identifying every single mineral that is in our soil. l believe that by the time you are done, Cross River State will have a map that would show us by geo-positioning  every single mineral we have in our soil."

Recalling the sister-state pact entered into by Cross River ànd Shaan Xi Province, which benefits, he said the state was already harvesting, Ayade said: "This is just one of the  fallouts of  my earlier visit where we signed a sister-state agreement. It is on the strength of that sister-state agreement that we have a team from the minerals and geophysical unit here. They have come here with all the digital equipment and paraphernalia required for a detailed geological survey to create a new mineral resource map for Cross River State."

The governor further added that "as a state, we recognize the technical and financial difficulties making it impossible for us to do a complete mapping. I took out detailed time to find out people from South Africa to carry out this same work, but the cost was prohibitive making it impossible for us to sustain the cost so I sought a different alternative which was China.

 "I am happy to announce to Cross Riverians that with the contact of my Commissioner for Solid Mineral and myself, we have an amalgam of intellectuals and highly skilled senior geologists from the Province of Shaan Xi to work with us towards mapping out all our minerals in the 18 local government areas, with no cost to be borne by the state.

"They are here to investigate the quality and quantity of each mineral and at what point you have what mineral and in which local government area."