Feldspar Mineral Deposits In Nigeria And The Enriched States

Feldspar is one of such non-metallic mineral resources which can be found in Nigeria and in some African countries like South Africa and Morocco. Feldspar is formed in rocks and Nigeria is a country with numerous rock deposits, thus Feldspar deposits can be found in Ajaokuta LGA in Kogi, Abia, Ogun, and Ondo State.

 

Mining of feldspar in Nigeria

Generally, the method through which feldspar can be extracted or mined is simple when compared with the method of mining other mineral resources.

It is mostly mined through an open-pit method where it is deposited but in cases where the deposits of the feldspar in the rock are firmly coupled with the small size of the quarry, the hand drilling method is used but in larger quarries, the method of steam drilling is most efficient.

In Nigeria, Africa, and in most parts of the world, feldspar is highly valued because of its important uses in the agricultural industries including the paint and paper industries, rubber and pharmaceutical industries, and much more.

The mining of feldspar is commercially viable because of its numerous uses.

There are many companies in Nigeria that engage in the extraction, processing, and production of this mineral such as Stonehill Nigeria Limited, Onshore Frontiers Limited, and a lot more.

Properties of feldspar

Feldspar is regarded as the most abundant group of minerals that can be found on the earth's crust.

It is a tectosilicate mineral and tectosilicate minerals constitute about 72-75% of the earth's crust and are one out of many silicate minerals which are rock-forming minerals that also constitute about 85-90% of the earth crust.

It has a colorless or pale-colored crystals appearance and contains aluminosilicates of potassium, sodium, and calcium.

Feldspars are formed from magma as crystallize veins in igneous and metamorphic rock, most feldspars are deposited as sodium feldspar, potassium feldspar, and mixed feldspars.

Feldspar Process Machine
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Feldspar is an aluminosilicate-based rock mineral that contains potassium- sodium and calcium, which is removed by hard-rock mining using the open-pit method, can be processed further using the machinery below:
Feldspar Crusher and Mill:   Machinery for crushing and grinding feldspar stones in order to reduce them into smaller particles.
 
Uses of Feldspars
Is used for their alkali content and alumina in industries.
Used in the production of floor tiles, shower basins, and tableware.
It is a raw material in ceramics and glassmaking such as glass for drinking, protection glass, and fiberglass for insulation.
It is sometimes used as a filler and extender in paint, plastics, and rubber.
It serves as a very important input in the pharmaceutical and agricultural sectors.

Groups/types of feldspar

Feldspar comes in two major groups namely;
Potassium feldspar
plagioclase

Potassium feldspar
Potassium feldspar is also called K-spar or alkali feldspar. This group of feldspar displays two cleavages as well as a range of colors that are overlying.

With the naked eyes, one can easily see the perthitic textures of feldspar on granites.
The term perthite refers to the characteristic texture of potassium feldspar as it undergoes cooling of transitional composition as a result of exsolution of contrasting potassium feldspar.

The member mineral groups of potassium feldspar include;
Microcline, (Potassium aluminium silicate)
Sanidine, (Potassium sodium aluminum silicate)
Orthoclase, (Potassium aluminium silicate)

Microcline has colours ranging from green, white, or pink. Their major occurrences include low-temperature hydrothermal veins, granite as well as pegmatites.

Sanidine is usually colourless. Its occurrences include metamorphic rocks as well as felsic plutonic igneous rocks.

Orthoclase comes in either pink or white in colour. It occurs in volcanic rocks rich in potassium.

Plagioclase
Plagioclase is also called plag. Just like the potassium feldspar, it also displays two cleavages and a range of colours that are overlying. It can either be grey or white in colour.

Additionally, plagioclase shows tiny grooves on one cleavage recognized as striations.

The member mineral groups of plagioclase are;
Anorthite, (Calcium aluminium silicate)
Albite, (Sodium aluminium silicate)
Bytownite, (Calcium sodium aluminium silicate)
Oligoclase, (Sodium calcium aluminium silicate)
Labradorite, (Calcium sodium aluminium silicate)
Andesine, (Sodium calcium aluminium silicate)

The member minerals groups of plagioclase usually occur in low to moderate grade metamorphic rocks, sandstones, granites or contact-metamorphosed impure limestone.

The three listed mineral groups in potassium feldspar, as well as the six groups in plagioclase, are the nine most popular of the many types of feldspar.

The different types of feldspar and their chemical composition include;

Mineral        Composition
Albite        NaAlSi3O8
Amazonite        KAlSi3O8
Andesine        (Na,Ca)(Al,Si)4O8
Anorthite        CaAl2Si2O8
Anorthoclase    (Na,K)AlSi3O8
Banalsite        Na2BaAl4Si4O16
Buddingtonite    (NH4)AlSi3O8
Bytownite        (Ca,Na)(Al,Si)4O8
Celsian        BaAl2Si2O8
Dmisteinbergite    CaAl2Si2O8
Filatovite        K(Al,Zn)2(As,Si)2O8
Hexacelsian    BaAl2Si2O8
Hyalophane    (K,Ba)(Al,Si)4O8
Kokchetavite    KAlSi3O8
Kumdykolite    NaAlSi3O8
Labradorite    (Ca,Na)(Al,Si)4O8
Microcline        KAlSi3O8
Oligoclase        (Na,Ca)(Al,Si)4O8
Orthoclase    KAlSi3O8
Paracelsian    BaAl2Si2O8
Reedmergnerit    NaBSi3O8
Rubicline        (Rb,K)AlSi3O8
Sanidine        KAlSi3O8
Slawsonite    SrAl2Si2O8
Stronalsite    Na2SrAl4Si4O16
Svyatoslavite    CaAl2Si2O8

History of feldspar

In the year 1747, Johan Gottschalk Wallerius gave the specimen the name feldspar.
This is because feldspar was usually found in fields and so, he shortened the long feldspar to feldspar.

Spar, on the other hand, means any non-metallic mineral or rock that forms a bare surface when patted by a mallet.

Prices of feldspar

The price/value of feldspar in the market depends on the transparency, colour, and in some cases the strength and size matter a lot.

Feldspar powder is sold on average for $ 120-260 US dollars per Ton with its average naira equivalent - 58,132.50 Nigerian Naira.

This price is negotiable and it all depends on the supplier of the product.

Import and export of feldspar

Since the price of feldspar is usually measured as per metric ton, it is therefore pertinent that the feldspar ore will be well prepared to enable easy export.

The feldspar ore needs to be sorted into different sizes and before they will be packaged.

The most preferred sizes suitable to be sorted for exportation is from zero millimetres, ranging to 50 millimetres to a 100 millimetre.

In the world trade for the year ended 2018, feldspar was worth $1.55 Billion US dollars which brings it to the rank of 804 out of 1225 in the world.

The top exporter for the year was Turkey with trade worth $225 Million US dollars.
The top importer, on the other hand, was the United States with trade worth $215M.
Also, the product complexity was -1.21, which brought it to the rank of 877 out of 1018.

The export growth from the year 2017 to the year 2018 in percentage was 38.2%, with the rank 112 out of 1225.

The mean tariff, on the other hand, was 4.1%, with a rank of 241 out of 1259.

Feldspars share of the world trade was in the percentage of 0.0084%, which brought it to the rank of 804 out of 1225.

In summary, the top exporters of feldspar were;

Turkey ($225M),
Mexico ($218M),
Mongolia ($192M),
China ($172M), and
Canada ($108M).

On the other hand, the top importers of feldspar were;

United States ($215M),
China ($173M),
Italy ($167M),
Spain ($95.1M), and
India ($94.5M).

With the use of the HS4 product classification, as at 2018, feldspars average tariff was 4.1%, which made it the 241 lowest tariffs worldwide.

Below is the list of countries with the maximum import tariffs for Feldspar;
Bahamas (40.2%),
Bermuda (25%),
Cambodia (15%),
Georgia (11.4%), and
Sri Lanka (10.5%).

On the other hand, the countries with the lowest tariffs were;
Angola (0%),
Mauritius (0%),
South Africa (0%),
Hong Kong (0%), and
Indonesia (0%).

Using the Product Complexity Index (PCI), feldspar ranked 877th in world trade.

Bottom line

The oil in Nigeria has taken over the interest of many investors in the country.
With the abundance of feldspar and a whole lot of other minerals in the country Nigeria, investing in the solid mineral sector will yield higher returns and improve the countries wealth.