NIGERIA HAS THE LARGEST GEMSTONE DEPOSITS IN THE WORLD!

THE TRILLION DOLLAR GEMSTONE DEPOSITS IN NIGERIA 

BY EDE O. GREG

 

Nigeria is endowed with large deposits of different types of precious and semi-precious stones.  The Country is heavily blessed with some of the world’s scarce precious gems like Sapphire, Emerald, Aquamarine, Beryl, Tourmaline, Zircon, and Garnet amongst others. Most of these deposits are available in very large commercial qualities. Nigeria’s Tourmaline for instance, comes out in multiple colors from the same pit and the quantity is usually in kilograms and tons. Nigeria’s Paraiba Tourmaline found in Oyo and Nasarawa States, for instance, could go for as much as $5,000,000 per gram. According to Daily Trust’s Ademola Adebayo, precious gems like Beryl, Aquamarine, Sapphires, Zircon in bubble-gum, pink and water melon Tourmaline grades from green to red can be sourced from only Tibet, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Brazil.
                                               

Annwan Doka in Kokona Local Government Area of Nassarawa State is a good example of the volume of Gem wealth buried under the Nigerian soil.  Anngwan Doka has one of the finest colors of Tourmaline. Its multi color fine Tourmaline usually comes out in tons and tons. One of the pits has just started producing small pieces of Paraiba green; it is hoped that the sizes and quantity will increase in the next few months. 

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Miners working at Saura Site at Keffi are agreed that any serious industrial mining at Saura has the capacity to produce more than 1,000 tons of pink, red and green tourmaline. Nigeria is looking for where to borrow $30 billion over a period of three years, but a single site in Nasarawa or Oyo State has the capacity to produce 20 tons of top grades Tourmaline over the same period of three years which could fetch more than that amount of money.

Sri Lanka is accepted as the largest producer of Sapphire in the World because of lack of information about Sapphire deposits in Nigeria. The quantity of Sapphire deposits in Mambila Plateau in Taraba State is unimaginable.  The good news is that serious work is going on there now, though on artisanal level.  The celebrated Antah and Nisama Sapphire (Kaduna State ) were only gotten from alluvial mining, and farmers picking the gems on their farms. The mother of Antah and Nisam deposites are yet to be mined. A gram of Antah Sapphire could go as much as $10,000.

 A Sariki (Local Chief) in Gwantu told me that when he was a teenager, those who mined for his father usually come back home in the evening with everybody carrying baco bags (50kg) of Emerald. Gwantu Emerald is one of the finest on Earth and commands high price in the International Market.  The hills of Gwantu are still there in Kaduna State. Nothing much is going on there now. Gwantu has large deposit of Emerald to make her the Emerald city of Africa.  In fact, the Sariki told me that the whole of Gwantu was sitting on top of Emerald deposits. Gwantu Emeral can produce enough wealth to develop the whole North Central Nigeria.

Jenta in Kokona Local Government of Nasarawa State is the home Aquamarine, White Topaz and many other industrial minerals. Large quantities of grade one Aquamarine and White Topaz come out of Jenta through the activities of small scale miners. Jenta’s WhiteTopaz comes out in tons and in large particles. Most of these White Topaz are smuggled out of Nigeria to Europe, India, China etc, where it is processed as substitute to Diamond. The Head of the family that owns that vast rich Territory, Alhaji Ahmed Osanga, the Igwo Strongman, told me that they had been looking for serious investors to come and mine the rich area, but only small –scale miners had shown face so far.

In Oyo State, Gemstone mining has been going on for a while now, but I doubt if the Federal Government actually understands the volume of deposits in that Area. Oyo has different types of Tourmaline, Topaz, Beirut etc.

The Areas from Gidan Kadiri, Nike, Gidan Lele, Angwan Mayo, Angwan Tudu, Garaku, Ninkoro up to Akwanga (Nasarawa State) are all sitting on top on huge Gem deposits of different types. Plateau and Bauchi states are also heavily blessed with these precious stones.

The few locations and examples cited above represent just small fraction of the volume and quantity of Gem deposits in Nigeria. The Country is indeed the most endowed Country on Earth in terms of gemstone deposit.  While majority of other nations that have Gemstone deposits are already depleting their reserves, Nigeria’s Gemstone Store is still intact.  Nigeria, no doubt, is certainly the next destination for International Gemstone miners, dealers, investors, researchers, Treasure hunters and Industry experts.  As information about the magnitude of Gem deposits in the Country continues to trickle out, Nigeria is going to be on the center stage of International Colored Stone Trade in the next few years. Smart men and women are already taking up positioning! 

The Nigerian Government through the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development is working assiduously to provide the enabling environment, infrastructure and legal framework for smooth operation of this win –win trade.
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