By the year 2015, Nigeria would be able to produce about 3 million liquid steel, minister of Mines and Steel Development, Arc. Musa Muhammed Sada said yesterday.

Speaking at the maiden stakeholders' forum on mineral exploration organized by the National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency (NSRMEA) in Abuja, the minister said three mining licenses have been issued to two mining investors; Tongyi Allied Minerals Ltd and Multiverse Plc, with a mine development to be concluded in the first quarter of 2013.

He said considerable progress has been made in the development of 'One Local Government Area, One Mineral Commodity Product' programme in conjunction with the trade ministry.

Earlier in his remarks, Director General of the National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency, Mr. Alex Ohikere said the 3 million tons of liquid steel target for 2015 will require 6 million tons of iron ore and 2.8 million tons of coking coal.

At the moment, he said "coking coal constituted a singular problem in the assemblage of raw materials from within the country. According to him, the Lafia-Obi coal deposit is the only known coal with coking characteristics ... with a total reserve of 128.3 million tons out of which

32 million tons of only seams 12 and 13 of the 36 intercepted can be exploited economically.