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Solid Minerals: Iron Ore
Renewed effort is emerging to prepare iron and steel making for the 20/2020 Vision
Nigeria’s solid minerals are in many cases a much under-utilised national resource. A good example is its iron ore. Although the country has an estimated 3 billion tonnes of iron ore in deposits found in Kogi, Enugu, Niger, Zamfara and Kadjuna states, the country currently supports only a modest domestic iron and steel industry. All that could be set to change, however. In April 2008, a new National Minerals and Metals Policy set out to prioritise the development of seven strategic minerals, among them iron ore. The others are coal, bitumen, limestone, barites, gold and lead/zinc. And an internationally-attended conference held in Lagos in 2008 set out a 25-point plan, or ‘road map,’ designed to breathe new life into the industry.
Iron is currently being mined at Itakpe in Kogi state, which is at the centre of the region known for its crystalline iron deposits. The large deposit of iron ores of Kogi and Enugu have yet to be fully explored, but high quality iron ores extracted at Itakpe and having concentrations of 67% iron (Fe) supply Nigeria’s Aladja and Ajaokuta steel companies. Mining is undertaken by the National Iron Ore Mining Company for the Ajaokuta Steel Plant and for the production of super-concentrates for the Delta Steel Plant at Aladja near Warri. Additional demand has come from several steel rolling mills, while export of excess iron ore beyond what can be processed domestically is currently being explored.
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