GEOG 324: Regional Geography of West Africa with special reference to

Ghana
Minerals and Energy Resources in West Africa
The important minerals for which West Africa is known are crude oil, gold, iron ore,
diamond, tin, columbite, phosphate and bauxite. Mining was an important activity in
the region long before arrival of Europeans. Only limited exploration for minerals
has been undertaken in land-locked countries of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger
because of their remote location.
Gold: Ghana is noted for gold and notable gold mining areas in Ghana are Tarkwa,
Obuasi and Aboso. Ghana is the seventh highest gold producer in the world. Moved
from the eighth place in 2010 to seventh in 2011 globally in terms of gold output.
AngloGold Ashanti manages the richest deposit at Obuasi in the Ashanti uplands.
Gold is mainly mined by deep-pit methods. Some of the shafts extend downward for
more than 2,000 meters. Alluvial gold is mined at Olesa and at Sokoto in the
Zanfara river valley. Burkina Faso started producing gold in 1961 at Poura. There is
little gold in the interior of Guinea Bissau and a large part of the country is still to be
fully explored.
Bauxite: Bauxite is an ore and the main source of aluminium. Guinea Bissau has
few mineral resources and bauxite is the most important. Guinea has about onethird of the worlds reserves of bauxite and mining started in 1952 (the worlds
largest producer of bauxite). The Balandou mine in Debele, a small town in the
region of Kindia in the west of the country. Trucks convey the bauxite earth to the
station where it is loaded on to freight trains to the provincial capital Kindia and
then leave the port of Conakry to Ukraine.
In Guinea itself, there is still no
industry to transform the red treasure into the coveted metal, even after 53 years of
independence.
Ghana has substantial deposits of bauxite in regions of Ejuanema, Nyinahin, and
Kibi, though most of them remain unexploited except in Awaso. Ghana Bauxite
Company has been working on the mining site in Awaso since 1941, which is said to
have enough reserves to last for more than three decades. Other bauxite reserves
of Ghana are said to have reserves to last for more than a century.
Uranium: Uranium has been discovered in large quantity in Niger and mining has
started. Uranium deposits in Niger were discovered recently (comparatively) and
have provided an important contribution to the national economy
Limestone: Nigeria is well endowed with limestone deposits. The limestone at
Mfamosing, near Calabar, is the largest and the purest deposit in Nigeria.
Iron ore: Mauritania is noted for the mining of iron ore near Fort Gouraud since the
1940s. Iron ore has been mined in Liberia at Bomi hill since 1957. The operations
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are at the surface and are highly mechanized. The ores and concentrates are railed
to Monrovia for shipment abroad.
Diamond: La Cote Ivoire produces diamond at Seguela and Katiola. Ghana is also
endowed with diamond. Most of Ghanas diamonds are industrial stones. The small
proportions of gem stones are used in the making of jewellery. Industrial diamonds
are used in drilling equipment. Diamonds are mined from alluvial sources mainly
from the Birim Diamond field at Akwatia and the Bonsa diamond field in the Eastern
and Western regions respectively. Ghana Consolidated Diamonds Limited (GCD)
undertakes large-scale diamond mining but this company was on the divestiture list
since 1993 and taken over by the Great Consolidated Diamond Ghana Limited in
August 2007.
Oil and Gas: These are of greatest importance and dominated by the enormous
reserves of the Niger Delta Basin. Prospecting for oil in Nigeria started in 1937 and
the first find was in 1956 at Olobire in the Niger Delta and at Afam. The oil was
exported and some was conveyed in pipeline to an oil refinery at Port Harcourt, built
in 1964, to produce petroleum and kerosene for domestic needs. The oil sector is
the cornerstone of Nigerian economy. Nigeria was the leading producer in Africa
until recently. Natural gas in large quantities is a by-product of oil drilling. The
production of oil in Niger Delta has been disrupted by militant groups agitating
against the damage of the environment and the destruction of the livelihoods of the
local inhabitants. They also demand an equitable distribution of wealth derived from
the oil. The Dome-Flore oil-field about 60 km off-shore from Southern Senegal is
estimated to contain about 100m tonnes of light oil but explorations have not yet
begun.
Theres also off-shore exploration for both oil and gas in Gambia and both Northern
and Southern Senegal with some potentials also in the coastal parts of Mauritania
(around segments of the Senegal basin). In Ghana, large oil reserves have been
discovered offshore in the Saltpond and Nzema areas (Cape three points) and
onshore in Tano basin. Commercial production has already started. Prospecting for
oil is still continuing in the Keta area and other locations along the coast. A byproduct from the oil fields is natural gas which can be used to generate electricity.
Coal: Nigeria is the main producer of coal in West Africa.The non-coking coal has
been mined in Enugu since 1915 for the use of local industries, in railway engines
and in thermal plants for the cement factories at Nkalegu and the thermal power
station at River Oji. Nigeria also has substantial deposits of lignite and brown coal
on both sides of river Benin and in Onitsha area. Almost all mining output is
exported except coal. Coal in Nigeria provided much of the energy for industrial
development until the 1950s.
Salt: The most common method of salt extraction, being the most cost-effective
and productive, is solar evaporation, using brine from the sea, marine lagoons or
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underground wells or boreholes. The Ghanaian salt industry as of 2009 produces

between 250,000 and 300,000 tonnes of salt annually. The nation's salt industry
represents a potential source of revenue from Nigerian purchasers who currently
rely on Brazilian salt.
Energy sources
Hydro energy sources: West Africa has a number of rivers and some of them
have been harnessed for the production of hydroelectric power. E.g. River Niger and
its tributaries in Nigeria, Mali and Guinea. River Sassandra in La Cote Idvoire and
the smaller rivers in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Burkina Faso has built two dams on
the White Volta and there is a potential site on the Black Volta. The Kainji Dam in
Nigeria and the Volta Dam in Ghana are the most notable hydroelectric projects in
West Africa.
In Ghana, hydro power is derived mainly from the Volta River Akosombo. A second
dam was completed at Kpong in 1982. The two dams have a capacity of 1,060,000
kilowatts and Ghana has been selling current to Togo and Benin since 1972.
Currently a 400 MV capacity plant has been constructed at Bui, a town on the Black
Volta River in central Ghana and about 70 small hydro dams have been earmarked
for future development.
Other sources of energy in Ghana: Potential sources of energy which could be
exploited on a large scale are the sun and wind solar and wind energy. Solar
energy has been utilized on a very small scale mainly for the domestic purposes.
The strong winds along the coastal plains and the interior are also being tapped on
a limited scale. Ghana aims at improving its energy sector by improving its
renewable energy resources. The official goal of Ghanas energy sector is to have 10
% of Ghanas energy from renewable sources by 2015 and latest by 2020. Initiatives
are underway to improve and expand these energy sources
Solar energy: The largest solar-energy plant in Africa, the Nzema project, based in
Ghana will be able to provide electricity to more than 100,000 homes. This will
increase Ghanas electricity generating capacity by 6%.
Thermal energy: The Aboadze Thermal Plant at Takoradi in Ghana uses crude oil to
produce electricity. It is also connected to the West African Gas Pipeline from Nigeria
.The project is to pump natural compressed gas from Nigeria through pipelines for
power generation in Ghana, Togo and Benin. Theres also the Asogli Thermal Power
Station in the Volta Region.
Nuclear energy: Ghana has an atomic reactor installed at Kwabenya near Accra.
The reactor generates electricity but used mainly for research purposes.
Biomass: Is the dominant energy source accounting for about 69% of the total
national energy consumption. Used mainly in the domestic sector for cooking and
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other household and small industrial purposes. Wood fuel is the dominant biomass
form in Ghana and the forest zone is the main source of fuel wood.
Importance of Minerals and energy resources

Mining is an important source of foreign exchange and most of the minerals are exported
in the raw state though some are partially processed locally. Gold contributed GH1
billion, representing 27.61 per cent of total collection of the Ghana Revenue Authority in
2011. It also contributed 42 per cent of total merchandise export within the same period.
Exports of gold amounted to $1.5 billion in the first three months of 2012 (Bank of
Ghana, 2014).

Establishment of industry e.g. Gold industry Anglogold Ashanti, Ghana Bauxite

Company, Jewellery industry, Cement industry e.g. Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria PLC.

It also employs a significant number of local people and also enhances infrastructural
development in the mineral rich areas. About 28,000 people were employed in Ghana's
mining sector thus a source of income.

Benefits to local communities through mineral royalties. e.g. about GH41 million mineral
royalties returned to the mining communities in the Western, Ashanti and Brong Ahafo
Regions from 2009 to 2011.

Constraints and Challenges

Infrastructural challenges: The rail lines of Ghana are in a deplorable
condition and is leading to heavy losses for some of the mining companies
over the past few years as it continues to use the more expensive mode,
roads, to carry the minerals to the port e.g. the bauxite
Environmental challenges :
Illegal mining (Galamsey) causes environmental degradation, and land
is laid waste by open cast method of mining and the dumping of
tailings from deep-shaft operations.
Commercial salt production in Ghana has also raised concerns about
the impact on wetland environments and the effect on waterbirds in
coastal lagoons in the country.
Pollution of water bodies health implications Diseases (skin
diseases), death
Air and noise pollution health implications
Socio-economic challenges
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 Destruction of agricultural lands

School drop-out, prostitution
Social unrest - agitations

Additional references

http://www.onlinenigeria.com/geology/?blurb=518#ixzz2wJYUgTTA
http://www.gepcghana.com/bauxite.php
http://www.bullionstreet.com/news/ghana-gold-production-to-hit-new-high-in-2012/3369