PREAMBLE

The North-central region of Nigeria comprising Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau States along with the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is very rich in mineral resources. The geological setting of the region is made up of igneous and metamorphic rocks of the Nigerian Basement Complex and sedimentary rocks of the Bida Basin (Niger, Kogi, Kwara, FCT), Middle Benue Trough (Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau) and the Northern Anambra Basin (Kogi, Benue). The major known mineral deposits distributed in the six States and the FCT across the Northcentral region offer considerable attraction for investors as solid mineral deposits of economic significance that include gold, iron ore (Itakpe, Ajabanoko, Agbado-Okudu, Chokochoko, Agbaja, Koton-karfe, Tajimi, Ebiya -all in Kogi State has estimated value of 2,522MT), cassiterite, columbite, wolframite, pyrochlore, monazite, marble, coal (Obi-LafiaCoal in Nasarawa State-estimated value of 128.3 MT), limestone, clays, barites, lead-zinc, etc, occur in the different geologic segments of region, which are of very good grade and substantially large quantities to sustain industrial and technological development as well as earn foreign exchange and create jobs.

By virtue of its long history of tin mining in the northcentral Nigeria, Plateau State had occupied a center-stage in the development of the mining sub-sector in Nigeria as a whole. Jos city had attracted and is still attracting a number of mining establishments and headquarters of geosciences professional bodies such as the Secretariat of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS), the Institute of Mining and Geosciences, which was also inaugurated in January 2007 is also cited in Jos. We may also recall that the defunct headquarter of Nigerian Mining Cooperation was sited in Jos. Worthy to mention also are the Nigerian Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) which mines iron ore at Itakpe, the National Steel Raw Materials Exploration Agency (NSRMEA) which concentrates on exploration of iron ore and coking coals, the National Metallurgical Development Centre (NMDC) whose focus is on research in mineral processing and downstream utilization studies on minerals, all of which report to the Ministry of Power and Steel, and the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) located in the Ministry of Science and Technology to source local raw materials – agricultural, forest, minerals and chemical – for domestic industries.

                                                                                            

While the enormous Mineral deposits portray potentials for industrial and technological development, the revenue realized from the Nigerian petroleum industry has been the country’s fiscal mainstay and remains a major revenue source but the reality of the recent downward trend of oil prices and its impact on the revenue and foreign reserves of the country however means that it has never been more vital for Nigeria as a whole to protect herself by diversifying her revenue streams and  adopt some policy modifications for the northern States to derive maximum economic benefits from her mineral resources endowment (oil and solid minerals). Development in the Nigeria solid minerals sector is however slow despite several attempts by the Government to ensure rapid development in the industry, probably due to the overreliance on crude oil.

Furthermore, policy inconsistencies on the part of the Government scares away foreign investors as there is noguarantee of their investments. The attitude of the artisanal and small-scale miners who presently dominate the solidminerals industry leaves much to be desired as they use crude and unconventional methods to extract the mineral resources with severe consequence on the environment and pollution of water sources and soils, resulting in severaldeaths. Their activities are usually not documented, and in most cases the minerals are exported to international markets illegally, resulting in loss of revenue to the Government. The Government should ensure consistent and business friendly policies, while at the same time give guarantees and grants to mining companies as is applicable in the agricultural sector. The environmental protection policies and the requirement for environmentalassessment under the new Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act should be strictly enforced by the relevantgovernmentagencies empowered by law to do so.

This work is in attempt to synthesize all the available data on North Central Nigerian mineral to provide the much-needed information on sourcing, utilization and development in the sector, thus the book shall serve as an invaluable companion to all the stakeholders in the minerals sector. It is hoped that the information provided will assist potential investors and increase the awareness of entrepreneurs in establishing small- scale industries. The Nigerian mineral sector will be able to contribute at least 10% to the country’s annual GDP. Also provided are details on the latest procedures for obtaining mining rights in Nigeria.

It is the interest of the northern States and FCT to acquire the much-needed mineral data which will serve as a source of vital background information to both local and foreign investors. The States of the north-central and FCT is endowed with vast economic mineral resources such as columbite-tantalite associated with tin in the granite and pegmatites of the Basement complex. Associated with the granites are molybdenite, wolframite, galena and sphalerite. Occurrence of galena and sphalerite have also been reported within the sedimentary sequence of the middle Benue Trough that crisscrossed especially Plateau State at Kanam and Wase LGAs) and at Arufu, Akwana, Azara, Keana and Awe in Nasarawa State. Radioactive minerals ores are largely obtained as by-product from the processing of tin occur as accessory minerals in the granites of the Jurassic Younger granites. Other accessory minerals are monazite, zircon, pyrochlore, thorite, fergusonite and Xenotime. Another category of mineral of utmost important is gemstone, although there are no reports of any detailed evaluation of the gemstone potential of Northcentral part of Nigeria. The greatest gemstones are in the Younger volcanics, granitic rocks of the Younger Granites complex. The most frequently available gems include aquamarine, sapphire, gernet, zircon, amethyst and smoky quartz. Industrial minerals such as clay and kaolin are also available in large quantities in the north-central of Nigeria.