MINING IN AFRICA SPECIAL — Niger seeks to diversify mining

The African nation of Niger (not to be confused with Nigeria) is a landlocked country south of the Sahara Desert. The mining industry plays an important role in the economy, largely because of important uranium deposits discovered and mined during the past three decades.

Uranium is still an important product, but since the fall in prices for the commodity, the government has been striving to diversify mineral exploration and mining.

Much of this effort has focused on gold occurrences in the Liptako area of southwestern Niger, and the government is pleased to report gold deposits have begun to be defined and that geological reserves have been outlined at several sites.

The Nigerian government has outlined several reasons for investing in the country, including political stability reinforced by the ongoing democratization process; a favorable and varied geologic context; important (and, in many areas, untouched) mining potential; competent and serious partners; a solid mining tradition; and, last but not least, recently improved and lenient mining and fiscal legislation.

The major metallogenic provinces of Niger include the Liptako area at the eastern extremity of the West African Shield. The region features gold, platinum, chrome, nickel, lithium, copper, manganese, zinc and molybdenum occurrences.

These occurrences are mostly found in three individualized Lower Proterozoic Birimian greenstone belts, which are separated by intrusives. Younger formations host phosphate, copper and gold occurrences, while other rocks outcropping in the Liptako area contain important iron ore reserves. The mineral potential of Niger is also tied to the Phanerozoic sedimentary formations. Gold, silver and copper occurrences have been noted, as well as areas enriched in vanadium and titanium. Other sedimentary units host uranium mineralization along with copper and coal deposits.

Niger’s land mass is 1.3 million sq. km, and its population is about 8 million. Sunni Muslim is the main religion and French is widely spoken, along with local languages.