Description

or a nation that wants to develop her economy, it must look inwards to identify areas where it has comparative advantage over other nation and efforts should be geared towards the development of the identified areas.

Apart from the hydrocarbon (crude oil) deposit which is Nigeria is well blessed with, the country also have comparative advantage in the solid minerals sector owning to the large deposit of mineral deposit in the different parts of the country and if the Nation is to develop and attain her vision of 2020 target, more efforts should be geared towards the development of the solid mineral sector of the Nigeria economy.

One of the minerals that can be found in the country is zinc ore. It is estimated that the nations has over ten million (10,000,000) tons of zinc ore deposit and to take advantage of this resources, interested investors can mine/source and export the product.

Zinc ore is usually sourced from mining sites which is scattered in different parts of the country especially in the northern part of the country.

FACTS ABOUT ZINC ORE IN NIGERIA

Estimated National Deposit: About ten million (10,000,000) deposits have been discovered in Nigeria.
Uses: The major uses of zinc are anti – corrosion coating on steel (Galvanizing).

Zinc is the 24th most abundant element in the earth’s crust and is a metallic chemical element with symbol Zn and atomic number 30.

The occurrence and distribution of zinc ore in Nigeria is mainly in the Northern part of the country because of the peculiar geology of the area though in the Eastern part of the country zinc ore also occurs.

Zinc ore are mined in Akwanga, Nassarawa Eggon and Wamba all in Nassarawa State. They are found in Jos in Plateau State, Alkaliri Local Government in Bauchi State and Filia in Gombe State. Taraba, Kaduna and Kogi.

Zinc mining produced 710,000 metric tons in 2009 for a value of $1.18 billion. Six companies operated 13 mines in six states. Zinc is primarily used in galvanizing (55 percent) and in zinc-based alloys (21 percent); it is also used in brass and bronze (16 percent).

The market for zinc ore especially the overseas market in China is large, expanding and sustainable because of the numerous uses of zinc ore. Buyers usually would like to secure steady source of supply of these products.

The return on investment on the export of lead ore is estimated between 25%- 30%.