Occurrence & Locations

Detailed information about where Cassiterite(Tin Ore) is found across Nigeria

Ririwai Mines

Kano State • Doguwa LGA

2019

Location Details:

The mine contains a large amount of Tin deposits along with quatz, Kaolin and zinc.

Specifications:

Cassiterite (SnO2)

Estimated Reserves:

16,150 million tonnes

Coordinates: 10.733330°N, 8.750000°E

Sabon-Barki

Plateau State • Jos South LGA

2019

Location Details:

Sabon Barki is one of the major areas where tin is mined in Plateau state

Specifications:

Tin ore (Sn) 5% up（including5%） 5% below

Cu ≤0.30% ＞0.30%

Sb ≤0.30% ＞0.30%

F ≤0.10% ＞0.10%

Bi ≤0.10% ＞0.10%

As ≤1.50% ＞1.50%

Pb ≤1.00% ＞1.00%

Radioactivity <200CPMby“inspection alert” & 200CPM

Estimated Reserves:

10,546 tones

Coordinates: 9.828300°N, 8.859200°E

Overview

Tin is a chemical element with symbol Sn (for Latin: stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is obtained chiefly from the mineral cassiterite, where it occurs as tin dioxide, SnO₂. Commercial grades of tin (99.8%) resist transformation because of the inhibiting effect of the small amounts of bismuth, antimony, lead and silver present as impurities. Alloying elements such as copper, antimony, bismuth, cadmium and silver increase its hardness. Tin tends rather easily to form hard, brittle intermetallic phases, which are often undesirable. It does not form wide solid solution ranges in other metals in general, and there are few elements that have appreciable solid solubility in tin. Simple eutectic systems, however, occur with bismuth, gallium, lead, thallium and zinc. This silvery, malleable poor metal is not easily oxidized in air and is used to coat other metals to prevent corrosion

Tin becomes a superconductor below 3.72 K.^[9] In fact, tin was one of the first superconductors to be studied; the Meissner effect, one of the characteristic features of superconductors, was first discovered in superconducting tin crystals. Tin is a malleable, ductile and highly crystalline silvery-white metal. When a bar of tin is bent, a crackling sound known as the tin cry can be heard due to the twinning of the crystals.^[4] Tin melts at a low temperature of about 232 °C (449.6 °F), which is further reduced to 177.3 °C (351 °F) for 11-nm particles.

Uses & Applications

Solder
Tin plating,
Tin chemicals,
Brass and bronze,
Specialized alloys
PVC stabilizers
Li-ion batteries

Characteristics

Symbol, Sn

Standard atomic weight 118.710

Electron configuration [Kr] 4d¹⁰ 5s² 5p²
Phase solid Density (near r.t.) (white) 7.365 g·cm⁻³

Density (near r.t.) (gray) 5.769 g·cm⁻³

Liquid density at m.p. 6.99 g·cm⁻³

Melting point 505.08 K449.47 °F 231.93 °C,

Boiling point 4716 °F 2602 °C, 2875 K,

Heat of fusion (white) 7.03 kJ·mol⁻¹

Heat of vaporization (white) 296.1 kJ·mol⁻¹

Molar heat capacity (white) 27.112 J·mol⁻¹·K

Occurrence

The tin mines in Nigeria lie mainly in the heart of the protectorate, on the summit and around the margins of the central plateau. Tin/Columbite: Tin and columbite was extensively mined from the Jos Plateau, with more than 90% of the cassiterite mineral produced in Nigeria then coming from the plateau highlands. The mining however extended to the south as far as Wamba; in the west to Kafanchan in the north to Bura and in the East to the Jarawa hills. Mining activities also took place in Bauchi and Kano areas of Ningi and Ririwei respectively.

Investment Opportunities

Tin is used in the production of virtually all domestic and industrial articles. These products are being imported despite the huge reserves of tin deposites in Nigeria, which has been mined in the last 100 years. Tin production increased rapidly from 1.36 tonnes in 1904 to 5,573 tonnes ten years later, reaching its peak production level of 15,842 tonnes in 1943.The sub-basalt tin of Ngell is believed to still have an untapped reserve of about 3500tonnes.

The Makeri Smelting Company was later established in 1961 for the purposes of smelting high-grade alluvial tin concentrates in two standard oil fired reverberatory furnaces. The company had its highest production of 1,400tones per annum of concentrates in 1968 declining steadily thereafter, until, the late 70s and early 80s when the intake was already below 50000tonnes per annum. The demand gap for tin products needs to be bridged. Investment in tin will attract huge rturns to the investor and assist the country in conserving the scarce foreign exchange.