Nigeria Produces 55.85m Tons Of Solid Minerals, NBS Says

Nigeria produced a total of 55.85m tonnes of solid minerals in the 2018 fiscal year, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics have revealed.

The NBS, in its mining and quarrying data report, which was released on Thursday, said Ogun State produced the highest tonnes of solid minerals among the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

The report stated that Ogun State produced 16.49 million tonnes of solid minerals.

This, it noted, represented about 30 per cent of the total tonnes of solid minerals produced in the year under review.

The bureau in the report stated that Kogi and Cross River states followed closely with 15.13 million and 3.49 million tonnes of solid minerals produced, representing about 27 per cent and six per cent of the total tonnes of the minerals produced.

On the other hand, the report explained that Bayelsa and Borno states produced the least volume of solid minerals with zero and 8,403.30 tonnes of minerals respectively.

The report read in part, “The mining and quarrying data for 2018 reflected Nigeria produced 55,850,075.43 tons of solid minerals.

“Ogun State produced the highest tonnes of solid minerals among the 36 states and the FCT. The state produced 16,497,405.35 tonnes of solid minerals representing 30 per cent of the total tonnes of solid minerals produced in the year under review.”

The report stated that limestone is the most produced solid minerals in 2018 with 27.19 million tonnes of minerals.

This, it noted, represented about 49 per cent of the total tonnes of minerals produced.

The NBS report added that Granite and Laterite followed closely with 9.62 million and 5.07 million tonnes produced, representing 17 per cent and nine per cent of the total tonnes of minerals produced respectively in 2018.

However, the NBS report stated that Garnet and Ruby were the least produced solid minerals in 2018.