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Nigeria is endowed with vast but largely untapped solid mineral resources including tin ores (cassiterite and stannite). Tin, which is one of the oldest metals known to man, is invaluable in a wide variety of uses due to its intrinsic properties such as great malleability and ductility, low melting point, softness, corrosion resistance, non-toxicity, anti-friction qualities, and silvery-white appearance. In the present century, the main uses of tin have been in the coating of steel to produce tinplates, production of alloys (solder, bronze and brass), and chemicals. Tin deposits occur in two distinct provinces in Nigeria. The older suite is related to Pan-African pegmatite belt. This Sn-Ta-Nb mineralized pegmatite belt stretches for over 400 km from southwestern (Ijebu area) to northern Nigeria (through Wamba-Jema’a to Zuru-Gusau areas). The later stage mineralization is hosted by granites of ring complexes of Jurassic age known as Younger Granites. In the Younger Granites, Sn-Nb-Ta mineralisation is associated with late-stage peraluminous granites both as disseminations and in veins and greisens. This work synthesizes and discusses the available data on tin mineralisation in Nigeria and possible metallogenesis and controls. Recommendations on how to encourage and improve the mining of tin and its associated minerals in Nigeria are also made in this work.
Mineral resources, pegmatite belt, tin mineralisation, Younger Granite
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