Nestled at the edge of Edo State bordering Kogi State, the sleepy town of Lampese, in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area is set to become a beehive of activity following the launch of the Izedon Calcium Carbonates Production Plant.
Trading as IzeCarb, Izedon Carbonates is the only integrated calcium carbonates production plant in Nigeria with a federal government-licensed and approved quarry to mine high-quality dolomite and process it into calcium carbonates.
Calcium carbonates serve as essential raw materials for various calcium carbonate products, including oil and gas drilling fluids, Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), paints and coatings, and Plaster of Paris (POP).
The plant which sits on about four hectares is equipped with state-of-the-art machinery such as an ultrafine mill, a superfine mill, pulverisers, grain-size batchers, an automatic bagging machine and an electro-hyper flow coating machine.
The outputs include but are not limited to: IzeCarb Ground Calcium Carbonate of varying micron sizes, IzeCarb Coated Calcium Carbonate and Dolomite Aggregate.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony on Friday 6 December, Chairman and Founder, Izedon Carbonates, Osayi Izedonmwen, said, “When we acquired this space, it was a forest.”
Noting that the project started in March, he said that the commissioning of the IzeCarb production plant is a reflection of the company’s execution capacity given that it achieved mechanical completion in less than six months after groundbreaking.
The initial phase of the project is only but a small portion of the entire project scope which aims to produce over 1 million metric tons per annum at full capacity. He explained the plant had the potential to become the largest manufacturer of calcium carbonates in Africa within three years.
“Import substitution is our end goal. We foresee a future in which Nigeria will no longer need to import calcium carbonates because of the high-quality calcium carbonates produced at IzeCarb.
“In our first phase of operation which should span about six months, we intend to meet the current local demand, and within one year, scale our production to 200,000 metric tons annually.
“Furthermore, we have bold ambitions to grow our production capacity to 1 million metric tons within three years to serve Nigeria and the West Africa sub-region,” he said.
In his address, Chairman, Akoko-Edo Local Government Area, Honourable Tajudeen Suleman, attested to IzeCarb’s capacity noting that he was at the groundbreaking ceremony and “was particularly delighted to witness the commissioning of the production plant.”
IzeCarb is redefining the industry standard with its “Quarry to Customer” model. This means IzeCarb will mine dolomite, process it into calcium carbonates and deliver finished products directly to customers. By handling every step of the process end-to-end, IzeCarb believes that quality will be uncompromised.
Customers can place orders directly on the company’s website, www.izecarb.com. IzeCarb has implemented a pioneering customer service delivery tracking feature that enables them to track their shipments until they are delivered.
The commissioning ceremony was attended by members of the Lampese community, IzeCarb partners and representatives of the Bank of Industry.
In his speech, MD/ CEO, Bank of Industry, Dr Olasupo Olusi who was represented by the bank’s south-south regional manager, Mr. Babatunde Ajala, said that siting the factory in Lampese will generate significant benefits to the people of Lampese and Edo State in general.
“The value chain presents several opportunities and linkages to other businesses. To mention a few: employment generation and export potentials,” he said.
Dr Olusi stated that the project holds the potential to unlock significant job and wealth creation and help tackle the issue of employment.
“It is estimated that the factory would employ nothing less than 500 staff. This is remarkable for this community as it will significantly boost economic activity. In addition, it will also help upgrade the skills of youths in the area of processing our abundant natural mineral resources,” he said.
He also said that the value chain would provide huge foreign exchange to entrepreneurs which invariably contributes to the growth of the FX revenue of the country.
