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Many
industrial minerals, which are vital to the industrial take – off of
Nigeria have been found to exist in commercial quantities within the
country. They include
limestone, dolomite, marble, kaolin and other clays, bayrte, diatomite,
feldspar, quartz and silica sands, gypsum, monazite, ilmenite, zircon,
talc, sillimanite, manganese and kyanite.
Other industrial minerals known to occur in the country are salt,
bentonite, phosphate, rare earth minerals, lithium minerals and mica.
Processing of these
minerals into industrial raw materials is in some cases quite
sophisticated and some of the process technologies
are regarded as industrial secrets.
The common minerals like limestone, kaolin, bayrte, feldspar,
quartz and silica sand, salt and phosphate
however, requires less in terms of process technology and have
wider uses. The common
minerals therefore offer excellent opportunities for initial
consideration and study for the support of value - added industries in
the country.
Even though many mineral products are consumed in the country either as
finished products or industrial raw materials, there is as at yet no
accurate data on the national demand of some of these products because
they are imported largely under branded names.
Some entrepreneurs who have taken up the challenge of mining some
of these minerals lack the required capital to invest in equipment to
process the mineral to the required specifications by the user
industries. |
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