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Nigeria

Geological Survey of Nigeria Agency
Private Mail Bag 2007, Kaduna South 800001, Kaduna
Phone:+234-62-232069       
Fax: +234-62-232069

CIA Factbook
Political rights and civil liberties (Freedom House)
Travel and accommodation

The contribution of mining to total exports in 2010 amounted to 1.2%

Nigeria Mining News

Source: CIA Factbook



Legend
Legend and ore deposit name




 Geology
Nigeria is underlain by rocks of Archean and Paleoproterozoic age outcropping mainly in the north, west and east and comprising grey-gneiss, schist and migmatites of the basement complex and supracrustals. These rocks are intruded by the so called ‘Older Granites’ of Pan-African age (700-500 Ma) and intercalated with metasediments of Proterozoic to Paleozoic age. The "Younger Granites" are of Jurassic age and commonly form major ring-complexes intruding Neoproterozoic to early Palaeozoic units of the Jos Plateau in central-northern Nigeria in a well-defined N-S zone which continues through to the Air region in Niger. Mesozoic and Cenozoic sediments of marine and continental types are found in the Sokoto or Iullemmeden Basin, the Chad Basin, the Benue and Niger Valley and the Niger Delta.
Mining
Nigeria also has a wide array of underexploited non-fuel mineral resources which include bauxite, tantalite, gold, tin, iron ore, limestone, niobium, lead and zinc. Nigeria remains Africa’s third largest producer of tin (accounting for 10% of total output) despite a 28% decrease in production in 2008. Mined lead production increased by 235% in 2008 and Nigeria is now also ranked the third largest lead producer in Africa. Nigeria was also the seventh largest producer of iron ore and steel in Africa in 2008 and is a small producer of tantalum (2.5% of African output). With the restart of the 193,000 t /yr ALSCON aluminium smelter in 2008 the country registered a modest production of primary aluminium (3.05% of total African output). The Tsohon Birnin Gwari gold deposit in Kaduna State is within the Kushaka schist belt of northwestern Nigeria. It was an active gold mine in the 1930's when over 600 oz of gold were produced. The gold mineralization is within a series of metasediments that lie in a number of isoclinal fold structures trending N-S and with a strong foliation parallel to the axial planes of the folds. The Kushaka belt is also associated with another prominent occurrence of gold mineralization referred to as the Kwaga locality.

Oil & Gas

Nigeria is the 14th largest producer of petroleum in the world (2.9% by volume) and the 8th largest exporter, and has the 10th largest proven reserves (4.94 Gt). It is the leading producer of crude oil in Africa accounting for 21.46% of total output. Nigeria is a member of OPEC. In 2008 there was a continued decline in crude petroleum production (-8.45% on 2007) largely attributed to civil disturbances and pipeline damage in the Niger Delta region. Nigeria is Africa’s third largest producer of natural gas, equivalent to 15.8% of total output. Natural gas production increased by 1% in 2008 following a significant ramp-up of production in the period 2005-2007.  This is expected to increase further when additional LNG plant capacity comes on stream in 2012. At the beginning of 2009 proven reserves of natural gas stood at 5.215 trillion m3. With the emphasis on oil and gas, coal production is at an insignificant level (ranked 12th with the lowest recorded output in Africa) and yet there are an estimated 2 Gt of reserves of which 650 Mt are proven.

Maps and images

  • RUSAL has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire a majority stake in the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) in Akwa Ibom from the Nigerian Bureau of Public Enterprises. The $250 million transaction will add almost 150,000 tonnes annually to RUSAL's aluminium production capacity. It will reopen Nigeria's only aluminium smelter in January after a nine year closure, a top company official said in November, 2007. The Alscon smelter in southeast Nigeria had a capacity of 193 000 t/y when it was built by the government at a cost of $2,5 -million in 1997, but it was poorly managed and produced just 40 000 t of metal before closing in 1999.
Coal
Click HERE for an overview

Copper

  • Geneva Resources Inc reported in May, 2007, that Allied Minerals had been issued licenses from the Central Government of Nigeria to explore and mine the lease areas defined as Lease 1511 and Lease 1513 in Gimbi, Mavo and Jawando in the Wase Local Government Plateau State of Nigeria. The lease areas have known copper occurrences. The company had previously entered into a Letter Of Intent with Allied Minerals of Lagos, Nigeria, to acquire a majority interest in two large mineral exploration properties owned by Allied.
  • Savannah Mining investigated a copper-gold occurrence at Laka in Yelwa District,Kebbi State. A soil sampling programme (1,774 samples) had highlighted an anomalous WNW trending area 7km x 2km in size. Magnetometer survey shows high magnetic contrasts pointing to Au-Cu mineralization in magnetite-hematite-quartz rocks Mapping of the area reveals several kilometre-sized magnetite-quartz bodies that appear to host the gold and copper anomalies detected in the region

Gold in Nigeria

Gold Home

Gold occurrences in Nigeria
The Tsohon Birnin Gwari gold deposit in Kaduna State is within the Kushaka schist belt of northwestern Nigeria. It was an active gold mine in the 1930's when over 600 oz of gold were produced. The gold mineralization is within a series of metasediments that lie in a number of isoclinal fold structures trending N-S and with a strong foliation parallel to the axial planes of the folds. The Kushaka belt is also associated with another prominent occurrence of gold mineralization referred to as the Kwaga locality.

The occurrence of gold has been reported from the following states: Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Borno, Niger, Cross river, Ondo, Osun, Edo, Zamfara and Kaduna. In all, 65 occurrences of gold have been reported in the country. Nigeria Mining Corporation (NMC), as part of an on-going privatization programme, invited prospective investors in 2007 to express interest in acquiring any of the following Mineral Titles, which were hitherto held by them: SML 21302 (Gold (Magami, Shiroro LGA, Niger), SML 2130 (Gold (Magami, Shiroro LGA, Niger), EPL 17222 (Gold (Bukkuyum LG, Zamfara), EPL 17223 (Gold (Bukkuyum LG, Zamfara), EPL 17224 (Gold (Bukkuyum LG, Zamfara), EPL 17225 (Gold (Bukkuyum LG, Zamfara), EPL 17227 (Gold (Bukkuyum LG, Zamfara), EPL 14000/EPL 14001 (Gold (Waya, Yauri, Kebbi), EPL 13212 (Talc, Gold, Cassiterite, Atakumosa, Oyo State), EPL 13214 (Talc, Gold, Cassiterite, Atakumosa, Oyo State).
Gold (and silver) production began in 1913 and peaked in the 1930s. During the Second World War, production declined. Mines were abandoned by colonial companies, and production never recovered. Gold deposits are found in western Nigeria, most prominently near Maru, Anka, Malele, Tsohon Birnin Gwari-Kwaga, Gurmana, Bin Yauri, Okolom-Dogondaji, and Iperindo in Osun state.
Maru area
Two old gold mines are most important, and are within the Maru Schist belt. Duki Mine hosted by a shear zone traversing a quartzite-schist series, often exploitating the schistocity planes. The mineralization made up of gold-quartz veins, was exploited by past miners for over 1 km of strike length, leaving behind series of collapsed N-S trending working without any surface exposures of the mineralization. There is no systematic correlation between gold mineralization and the type of country rock. Gold mineralization occurs near faults and shear zones. Recent exploration, drilling by the Nigeria Mining Corporation has shown the continuity of the gold-quartz-sulphide veins below the old workings. The other old gold mine, Maraba, consists of a two sub-parallel quartz vein (~300m long) system. Tourmaline and chlorite floats and altered wall rocks are the only indicators of mineralization, as there are no in situ exposures due to intensity of past mining.

Anka area
In this area, there are a number of old gold mines, such as Kwali, Jameson, Zuzzurfa and Kuba, hosted by schists, phyllites and quartzites of the schist belt. Individual veins or reefs seldom exceed 0.5km of strike length as indicated by the extent of past workings, and are concordant with the host rock foliation. These mineralized wallrocks show metal values in the following range: Cu= 647-5410 ppm, Pb= 7550-22600 ppm, Ag= 1.58.6 ppm, and Au= 123-6320 ppb.

 Malele area

The Malele area is in the extreme southern part of the Maru Schist belt. Gold mineralization occur in a NNE trending gold-quartz vein series cutting both biotite-gneiss and chlorite schist, now represented by a series of sub-parallel surface workings (pits, trenches and water ponds) with the vein exposures seldom observed. The mineralization was discovered in 1934 with the most prominent of the veins being 1.5m thick, 370 m long and a grade of about 30ppm. 

  • Golden Star Resources Ltd (AMEX:GSS; TSX:GSC) is forming a joint venture with a Nigerian company, International Gems, to explore gold occurrences in the northern state of Zamfara in an area explored in the 1930's by German companies.
  • ERIN Resources Pty Ltd (Australian Incorporated) owns 100% of Erin Mineral Resources (Nigeria) which is the operating company in Nigeria. ERIN has an office and an exploration team working out of Abuja, the capital of Nigeria and has four granted gold and nickel licenses.
 Iron Ore
  • Iron-ore developer Kogi Iron Ltd has undertaken a scoping study over its Agbaja project, in Nigeria. On 28 September 2012 the Company announced a maiden JORC Mineral Resource of 488 million tonnes grading 42.7% iron, categorised as Inferred. The scoping study would evaluate a first stage, five-million tonne a year operation that would include mining and beneficiation activities. The mined ore would be hauled to a crushing plant and would be further milled and fed to a beneficiation plant. A final ore concentrate grading between 55% and 56% iron would be produced. The final concentrate would be slurried and pumped from the Agbaja plateau down to the Banda barge facility. “There have been tremendous achievements to date with drilling and the establishment of a significant Joint Ore Reserves Committee compliant resource at Agbaja, which has the potential to support a profitable iron-ore operation,” said Kogi MD Iggy Tan. “In addition, there have been excellent studies to identify an optimal transport solution for the first stage of the project, as well as geological and metallurgical testwork to lay the foundations for the viability and feasibility of the project.” Tan said that based on the background work and studies, Kogi was now in a position to launch the scoping study. “Subject to feasibility and funding, the company intends to start iron-ore concentrate production at Agbaja at a rate of five-million tonnes a year. In addition to the technical and commercial feasibility of the project, the scoping study will also address potential markets for the Agbaja iron-ore,” he said.

 Oil and Natural Gas
Proven reserves
Oil: 37 200mmbbls
Gas: 182Tcf
The national oil company is Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)
The key players are
Agip
Oando
Sinopec
Chevron
SAPETRO
Texaco
ExxonMobil
Seplat
Total
Nigeria LNG
Shell
Highlights in 2014
• Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa after rebasing its GDP in April 2014.
• Nigeria is the leading oil exporter in Africa and has the second-largest amount of proven crude oil reserves on the continent. It is the 11th-largest oil producer in the world.
• Nigeria also has the largest natural gas reserves in Africa, but it presently cannot take advantage of this resource due to its limited infrastructure.
• Increasing security issues, together with regulatory uncertainty have played a major role in contributing to a decrease in exploration activity. This has led to minimal growth in reserve estimates.
Recent developments
• The Nigerian content implementation framework has continued to firmly pitch Nigeria as an evolving energy market and a continental economic power block, as African countries are absorbing the local content philosophy into their national economic agenda.
• The Nigerian content policy promotes participation of Nigerians in the industry. Engineering in the oil & gas industry is done 90% in-country, and manufacturing of all the field development facilities has 50% of the tonnage done in Nigeria.
• There is a trend for oil & gas majors to divest their onshore holdings because of security issues and theft from pipelines. This makes way for small, indigenous oil companies that will need to focus on operational excellence to realise success.


Click HERE for an overview
  
A Shadow of its Former Self - Nikki Jones

History of the Petroleum Industry in Nigeria

Source: CIA
Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa, the eleventh largest producer of crude oil in the world and a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In 2006, total Nigerian oil production, including lease condensates, natural gas liquids and refinery gain, averaged 2.45 million bbl/d (of which 2.28 million bbl/d was crude oil). If Nigeria could bring back online all oil currently shut-in, EIA estimates that Nigeria could reach crude oil production capacity of three million bbl/d. With the help of new projects coming online, the Nigerian government hopes to increase oil production capacity to four million bbl/d by 2010.
On April 21, 2007, Nigeria held presidential elections, marking the first time in Nigeria’s history that the country passed control from one civilian government to another. During the 16 months preceding the election, militant activity in the Niger Delta (especially near Warri and Port Harcourt) has severely impacted Nigeria’s oil production potential by shutting-in an estimated 20 percent of total production. The Nigerian economy is heavily dependent on the oil sector, which accounts for 95 percent of the country’s total export revenues.
According to Oil and Gas Journal (OGJ), Nigeria had 36.2 billion barrels of proven oil reserves as of January 2007. The Nigerian government plans to expand its proven reserves to 40 billion barrels by 2010. The majority of reserves are found along the country's Niger River Delta, in southern Nigeria and offshore in the Bight of Benin, Gulf of Guinea and Bight of Bonny. Nigeria has total production capacity (total potential production capacity if all oil currently shut-in came back online) of three million barrels per day (bbl/d) including two million bbl/d onshore and one million bbl/d offshore.
In 1977, Nigeria created the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). At that time, the NNPC’s primary function was to oversee the regulation of the Nigerian oil industry, with secondary responsibilities for upstream and downstream developments. In 1988, the Nigerian government divided the NNPC into 12 subsidiary companies in order to better manage the country’s oil industry. The majority of Nigeria’s major oil and natural gas projects (95 percent) are funded through joint ventures (JVs), with the NNPC as the major shareholder. The largest JV is operated by Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). Additional foreign companies operating in JVs with the NNPC include ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Total, Agip and Addax Petroleum. The remaining funding arrangements are comprised of production sharing contracts (PSCs), which are mostly confined to Nigeria’s deep offshore development program.

  • Oil production: 2.451 million bbl/day (2005 est.)
  • Oil proved reserves: 36.25 billion bbl (2006 est.)
  • Natural gas production: 21.8 billion cu m (2004 est.)
  • Natural gas exports: 12.59 billion cu m (2004 est.)
  • Natural gas proved reserves: 4.984 trillion cu m (1 January 2005 est.)
  • In recent months, Nigeria has experienced increased pipeline vandalism. In October 2005, a pipeline fire in the south-western Delta State of Nigeria resulted in the deaths of about 60 people. This was followed by a December attack, in which armed men in speed boats dynamited Shell’s pipeline in the Opobo Channel. In January 2006, a pipeline attack from the Brass Creek fields to the Forcados terminal forced Shell to announce a force majeure on Forcados commitments to end-February. Additional attacks made on the pipeline and the Forcados terminal in February made it necessary for Shell to extend the force majeure beyond the end-February date. Shell estimates that more than 450,000 bbl/d of its oil production is currently shut-in because of the attacks. A February 2006 attack on the Escravos pipeline, that supplies oil to the Warri refinery, caused the refinery to shutdown. Officials are unsure of how long it will take to repair the damage. Nigeria had re-commissioned the Escravos-Warri pipeline in January 2005 after 18 months of repairing the damage caused by sabotage during the 2003 Niger Delta Crisis. In addition to pipeline vandalism, Nigeria has seen an increase in kidnappings of expatriate oil workers in the Niger Delta region. In January 2006, four foreign employees of Royal Dutch Shell were kidnapped and then held for 19 days before being released on “humanitarian grounds”. In February 2006, nine additional oil workers were kidnapped in the Niger Delta region. On March 3, 2006, six of the nine hostages were released, with the remaining three being released on March 27, 2006. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) is taking responsibility for the kidnappings and for blowing up a crude oil pipeline owned and operated by Royal Dutch Shell.Despite the recent attacks on Shell's oil facilities, the company’s deepwater Bonga field began producing oil at the end 2005, reaching production of 225,000 bbl/d in April 2006. Bonga is estimated to hold recoverable oil reserves of 600 million barrels. Oil from the field is stored in a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit, with capacity of two million barrels. In August 2008, Shell plans to bring online its Gbaran/Ubie field (220,000 bbl/d), located offshore of the eastern delta.
  • ExxonMobil produces around 750,000 bbl/d of oil in Nigeria. The company plans to invest $11 billion in the country's oil sector through 2011, with the hope of increasing production to 1.2 million bbl/d. In March 2006, ExxonMobil brought online its Erha development, which is located offshore of the western delta. Erha reached peak production of 200,000 bbl/d in July 2006. Oil from Erha is stored in a FPSO, with capacity of 2.2 million barrels of oil. Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC), capable of holding up to 300,000 deadweight tons are used for exporting the oil from the terminal. ExxonMobil also operates the Yoho field, with current output of around 150,000 bbl/d. Yoho contains around 400 million barrels of oil reserves. Yoho will be re-injected with natural gas to maintain field pressure. The $1.2 billion field is located in the shallow waters of the eastern delta. In June 2008, ExxonMobil plans to bring online its Bosi field (110,000 bbl/d) located offshore of the western delta.
  • Chevron’s offshore Agbami field is scheduled to come online in 2008, with peak production estimated at 250,000 bbl/d. The majority of Agbami lies in Block 127, while one-third of it lies in the adjacent Block 128. In February 2005, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) awarded Chevron a $1.1 billion contract for the construction of a FPSO for the field, which will be undertaken by Daewoo Shipping and Maritime Engineering (South Korea). The FPSO is expected to export up to 250,000 bbl/d of oil and 450 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas.
  • Total, Agip, and ConocoPhillips are also involved in the Nigerian oil sector. Output at Total's Amenam field reached 120,000 bbl/d in January 2005. The Amenam field contains reserves of around one billion barrels of oil equivalent. In January 2009, Total plans to bring online its offshore Akpo field (180,000 bbl/d) and in January 2010, its offshore Usan field (150,000 bbl/d).
  • Nigeria shares a Joint Development Zone (JDZ) with neighboring São Tomé and Príncipe (STP), which contains 23 exploration blocks. Nigeria and Sao Tome have agreed to split revenues from the blocks on a 60:40 basis, respectively. Block One is currently the only block in the JDZ undergoing development. The block is controlled by Chevron (51 percent), with partners ExxonMobil (40 percent) and Equity Energy Resources (9 percent). Preliminary studies have indicated that the block could contain sizable amounts of oil (up to 1 billion barrels). If recoverable oil is located, Chevron plans to bring it onstream by 2010. Blocks Two through Six were also awarded, of which, three have been approved for PSAs, while the remaining two have yet to be signed. Meanwhile, several independent U.S. based companies that were awarded shares in the blocks have relinquished their awards. Pioneer Natural Resources stated a failure to agree to specific terms of operation on Block Two as the reason for its withdrawal from the project. Pioneer’s withdrawal has opened the door for China’s oil and gas company, Sinopec, to invest in the JDZ.

Significant oil find' possible in Lake Chad basin - Nigeria

2015-11-09 15:50
Abuja - The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said it "may well be on the verge of a significant oil find" in the Lake Chad area, which has been blighted by Boko Haram-related violence.
"There are signs from the latest 3D seismic studies that oil may well be very close to being found now in Lake Chad after very many years of trials," added group managing director Ibe Kachikwu.
Kachikwu, appointed in August to overhaul the state-run group, described the potential find as "very key" and indicated it would help access to crude in northern Nigeria.
"I am optimistic that by the end of the year we should be able to announce something major on this," he was quoted as saying in an emailed statement on Sunday evening.
Kachikwu gave no further details but it is understood he was referring to the Kukawa area of Borno state, where exploration had previously begun but was halted because of the six-year Islamist insurgency.
An NNPC source said exploration had resumed.
Series of successes
In 2006, Nigeria handed licences to the state-run China National Petroleum Corporation to explore four blocks in the Lake Chad basin.
Lake Chad forms the border between Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Chad hit oil on its side of the border in the late 1970s. Production hit 100 000 barrels a day in 2013.
Nigeria's military has claimed a series of successes in pushing the militants out of captured towns and villages in the remote region, and has claimed rebel camps have been destroyed.
The discovery of oil has the potential to transform the Muslim-majority north, where poverty and unemployment have been seen as key factors in radicalisation.
There have been estimates that 100 billion cubic metres of oil deposits lie beneath Lake Chad and its arid hinterland in Nigeria.
Boko Haram wants to carve out a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria but there have been no serious suggestions that its insurgency is driven by oil. Instead, the militants' aim is primarily ideological and religious.
References

Economic geology of energy sources

Economic geology of nonmetal deposits

Economic geology of ore deposits

Economic geology, general

Economic geology, general, deposits

Economic geology, general, economics

Economic geology, geology of energy sources

Economic geology, geology of nonmetal deposits

Economic geology, geology of ore deposits

Posted by Carel van der Merwe at 15.4.07