DILI, 18 november 2022 (TATOLI) – The Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals (MoPM) through the Institute of Petroleum and Geology (IPG) would construct a four-story building for Geological Materials Storage.
“The IPG would construct a four-story building to collect and store all samples of the country’s natural resources,” Minister of Petroleum and Minerals, Víctor da Conceição Soares said at Dili Convention Center (CCD).
He said the IPG will bring Timor-Leste’s oil and gas data from Australia Geoscience: “In the future, the data and samples of our natural resources would be brought back to Timor-Leste from Australia Geoscience. Therefore, the new building would be used for storing these samples of our natural resources and data.”
At the same place, the President of IPG, Gabriel Aparicio said that the building would also be used to set up the mineral testing laboratory and the oil and gas laboratory.
He said that the Ministry of Justice has indicated, in 2021, the land near the National Library construction site in Hudi-Laran for the IPG’s new building: “Currently, we rent a building in Elemloi. Because of having no adequate building, IPG is unable to purchase essential equipment for the analysis of the chemical elements of mineral and non-mineral.”
Aparicio said that IPG needs two types of equipment, namely field analysis equipment, and laboratory equipment, saying the laboratory equipment would be used for the analysis of chemical elements of petroleum, minerals, and hydrological.
“Currently, we need equipment for the analysis of chemical elements of different types of minerals in the country,” Aparicio stressed.
Oktoviano de Jesus, the IPG Vice President said the mineral samples had been collected through the IPG Stream Sediment Studies.
“The silt, sand, mud, and clay in our streams and riverbed had been collected and sent for laboratory analysis in Canada, Australia, and Indonesia,” Oktoviano said.
He said that the mineral samples have to be sent for laboratory analysis abroad, as Timor-Leste does not yet have the facilities to conduct laboratory analysis of mineral samples in the country.
“Therefore, we need adequate equipment and facilities to carry out the laboratory analysis of the samples of natural resources in the country,” Oktoviano said. “We continue to work on the geological collection and data analysis and hope that one day we will have enough data available to attract international investors.”
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges
