Solid Mineral Resource Production In Nigeria (2017)

The States Disaggregated Mining and Quarrying Data for 2017 shows that Granite was the most produced solid mineral resource in Nigeria. The produced Granite was recorded to be about 17 million tons, representing about 38% of the total mineral production.

Following Granite in production quantity, is Limestone with 13 million tons and Laterite with 3.7 million tons. Individually, they represent 31% and 8% of the total tons of minerals produced in 2017. Also, Shale production amounted to 2.8 million tons. Sand, an abundant resource in Lagos had 2.4 million tons produced. Production of Granite dust and Granite aggregates was recorded as 1.95 million and 1.6 million tons respectively.

Not measuring up to a million tons, but still among the top ten most produced solid minerals in Nigeria are Clay and Coal. Clay produced in Nigeria was recorded to be about 934 thousand tons while 397 thousand tons of coal were produced.

The least most produced mineral resources were Quartz with 8 tons, Wolframite with 3.75 tons, Amethyst with 2 tons, Garnet with 2 tons and Zircon with just 1 ton.

The table below contains an exhaustive list of the quantity of minerals produced in Nigeria in 2017.

S/N	RESOURCE	QUANTITY PRODUCED(in ‘00,000)
1	GRANITE	175
2	LIMESTONE	140
3	LATERITE	37
4	SHALE	28
5	SAND	24
6	GRANITE DUST	20
7	GRANITE AGGREGATES	16
8	CLAY	9
9	COAL	4
10	DOLORITE	1.5
11	STONE DUST	1.1
12	KAOLIN	0.4
13	GYPSUM	0.4
14	MANGANESE	0.4
15	FELDSPAR	0.3
16	SILICA SAND	0.3
17	DOLOMITE	0.3
18	DUST	0.2
19	MARBLE	0.138
20	LEAD/ZINC	0.136
21	TIN ORE(CASSITERITE)	0.123
22	TOURMALINE	0.121
23	GOLD (G)	0.098
24	R/SAND	0.07
25	TOPAZ	0.06
26	AQUAMARINE	0.05
27	ZIRCON SAND	0.04
28	GRANITE BLOCK	0.03
29	TANTALITE	0.02
30	TALC	0.02
31	COLUMBITE	0.01
32	MICA	0.01
33	BARYTE	0.007
34	PINK-TOURMALINE	0.007
35	SAPPHIRE	0.004
36	CORUNDUM	0.002
37	COPPER	0.0003
38	COLTAN	0.0001
39	QUARTZ	0.00008
40	WOLFRAMITE	0.00004
41	AMETHYST	0.00002
42	GARNET	0.00002
43	ZIRCON	0.00001