A Review of Nigerian Metallic Minerals for Technological Development

Abstract

The metallic mineral resources of Nigeria have not been fully appraised due to lack of sufficient studies and technology. Previous works identified a number of minerals deposits which have remained largely unevaluated. Some known deposits were confirmed while new ones were identified and documented. The metallic minerals found in Nigeria include iron ore (with over 3 billion metric tones), ferro-alloy minerals (manganese, vanadium, nickel, chromite, columbite, molyb-denum, zircon, wolfram/tungsten tourmaline and tantalite), tin ore (cassiterite), lead/zinc, niobium, uranium ore and precious metal (Gold). Looking at the diversity of the mineral types and industrial importance of most of them and the need to exploit and process the minerals for technological development, there is need to build up capability to produce efficient unit operations of the required sizes by indigenous manufacturers.