Nigeria’s Mining Sector Gains As Profit Grew By 17.95% In 2020 - NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that the mineral production in the mining and quarrying sector has jumped by 17.95% amounting to 64.3 million tons in 2020 as against its 54.5 million tons in 2019.

Brand News Day Nigeria reports that the NBS made the disclosure in a report titled, ‘Mineral production statistics 2019-2020‘ saying that Nigeria produced 64,286,308.01 tons of solid mineral resources in 2020.

The Top  three states with the biggest share of production in 2020 were Kogi (12.5 million tons), Ogun (12.1 million tons), and Cross River (8.9 million tons. Borno, on the other hand, had the lowest total of 5,060 tons.

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In 2020, the most mined minerals were limestone, sand, and granite, while limestone, granite, and laterite were the top three largest minerals in 2019.

Nigeria’s Mining Sector Gains As Profit Grew By 17.95% In 2020 - NBS

The report reads in part, “The Mining and Quarrying sector is crucial to growth in Nigeria considering the potential to export mineral resources to the rest of the world and the drive for diversification. Essentially, Nigeria is said to be endowed with over forty (40) types of minerals including marble, coal, iron ore, gold, silica, lead, zinc, tin ore, manganese, granite, laterite, limestone, etc.”

“Aggregate production in 2020 (64,286,308.01 tons) grew by 17.95% compared to 2019 with 54,505,048.23 tons, indicating an improvement in production.”

According to the report, in 2020, Kogi State, Ogun State, and Cross River State were the top three states with the largest share of production with 12.50 million tons, 12.11 million tons, and 8.90 million tons respectively. The least State was Borno which recorded 5,060 tons. Similarly, Ogun State, FCT, and Kogi State were the top three states with the largest share of production in 2019.”

This report shows that Ogun State produced 12.55 million tons, FCT produced 10.82 million tons, while Kogi State recorded 10.11 million tons over the same period. Limestone, Sand, and Granite were the three most mined minerals in 2020, while Limestone, Granite, and Laterite were the top biggest minerals in 2019.