RESOURCES FROM NON-LIVING THINGS

CONTENT

• Solid Minerals
• Meaning of Solid Minerals
• Distribution of Solid Minerals in Nigeria

Solid Minerals

Meaning of Solid Minerals

Solid minerals are naturally occurring chemical elements or compounds which are found in rocks or in the soil, examples are gold, salt, tin etc. Minerals can exist as solids or non-solids or a combination of both. All rocks are made up of minerals. Rocks which contain a high concentration of the mineral of a particular metal, from which it can be profitably mined are called the ore of that metal e.g. iron ore, copper ore, etc.

Solid minerals have been found deposited in some parts of Nigeria in commercial quantities and they are of valuable use to man. Due to their importance, the federal government established the Ministry of Solid Minerals to handle all matters concerning solid minerals.

Man utilizes some of these minerals in their natural/crude form while some of them have been combined with other materials i.e. processed to form products which are useful to man.

There are about 34 mineral resources found in Nigeria.