U.S. Geological Survey reported in 2005 that a nation’s endowment of nonfuel mineral resources, relative to the world’s endowment, is a fundamental consideration in decisions related to a nation’s economic and environmental well being and security. Knowledge of the worldwide abundance, distribution, and general geologic setting of mineral commodities provides a framework within which a nation can make decisions about economic development of its own resources, and the economic and environmental consequences of those decisions, in a global perspective. The information in this report is part of a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) endeavor to evaluate the global endowment of both identified and undiscovered nonfuel mineral resources. The results will delineate areas of the world that are geologically permissive for the occurrence of undiscovered selected nonfuel mineral resources together with estimates of the quantity and quality of the resources.
The results will be published as a series of regional reports; this one provides basic data on the identified resources and geologic setting, together with a brief appraisal of the potential for undiscovered mineral resources in Africa and the Middle East. Additional information, such as production statistics, economic factors that affect the mineral industries of the region, and historical information, is available in U. S. Geological Survey publications such as the Minerals Yearbook and the annual Mineral Commodity Summaries (available at http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals).
The region covered in this report is a major producer of mineral commodities such as:
antimony (4.0 percent of world production in 2003),
asbestos (5.8 percent), barite (12.9 percent),
bauxite (11.1 percent),
bentonite (5.9 percent),
boron (34.5 percent),
bromine (39.6 percent),
cobalt (49.7 percent),
copper (2.4 percent),
chromium (46.4 percent),
diamond (industrial 46.8 percent and gem 50 percent),
fluorite (11.5 percent),
gold (17.3 percent),
gypsum (13.3 percent),
helium (15.6 percent),
iron ore (5.3 percent),
kyanite (53.7 percent),
magnesite (17.3 percent),
manganese (32.9 percent),
mercury (25 percent),
nickel (4.8 percent),
perlite (9.4 percent),
phosphate (38.3 percent),
platinum-group metals (platinum, 72.2 percent; palladium, 37.9 percent),
potash (11.9 percent),
pumice (15.0 percent),
strontium (20.5 percent),
sulfur (10.2 percent),
tantalum (12 percent),
titanium (22.1 percent),
vanadium (25.0 percent),
vermiculite (50.0 percent), and
zirconium (31.5 percent).
In addition, the countries in the region are among the world’s major producers, or have significant known reserves of:
beryllium,
cesium,
feldspar,
graphite,
hafnium,
lead,
lithium,
molybdenum,
niobium (columbium),
nitrate,
industrial quartz crystal,
scandium,
silicon,
soda ash,
sodium sulfate,
thorium,
tin, and
yttrium.
The United States does not produce enough of some mineral commodities to supply all of its current domestic demand, and it relies on imports to satisfy these needs. In 2003, the United States imported 100 percent of its arsenic, asbestos, bauxite and alumina, fluorspar, graphite, indium, manganese,
niobium (columbium), industrial quartz crystal, rubidium, strontium, and vanadium from sources that include countries in this region.
Although Africa and the Middle East are rich in mineral resources (both identified and undiscovered), continuing civil and international warfare, human rights abuses, the spread of terrorism, the AIDS epidemic, and the instability of the political and business sectors in many nations of the region are increasingly affecting the progress of new exploration and development activities.
Africa is endowed with a number of the world’s giant ore deposits or districts including gold (and uranium) resources in the:
Witwatersrand Basin, South Africa;
Kalahari manganese fields, South Africa;
Bushveld Igneous Complex of chromium, platinum, and vanadium resources, South Africa, and
Great Dyke, Zimbabwe of chromium and platinum resources;
And the ilmenite, rutile, zircon-bearing heavy mineral sands of South Africa (Namaqualand, NatalZululand), Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Cameroon;
the copper and cobalt resources of the Central African Copperbelt (Zambia and Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-(Kinshasa) [formerly Zaire]); the diamond deposits of Kimberly, South Africa, and west Namaqualand area of South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Angola, Congo-(Kinshasa), Sierra Leone, and Tanzania;
Plus the Ashanti gold fields of Ghana; Mount Nimba iron ore deposits of Guinea-Liberia as well as those of South Africa; bauxite deposits of Cameroon, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau; and uranium resources of Niger and the Congo.
Of these major deposits, gold deposits of the Witwatersrand Basin; manganese resources of the Kalahari; chromium, platinum and vanadium resources of the Bushveld Igneous Complex; copper and cobalt deposits of the Central African Copperbelt; and diamond deposits of Africa are of particular importance because of their size, grade, and production.
Similarly, the Middle East has a wide variety of productive metallogenic settings and hosts a number of the world’s great mineral districts. The amalgamated terranes of the Arabian shield contain deposits of copper, zinc (some with significant gold) and iron related to volcanic rocks. These deposits are found primarily within the western block of the Arabian shield and include the Jabal Sayid (copper), Al Masane (zinc, copper, gold), Al Hajar (gold, copper) and Wadi Sawawin (iron) deposits in Saudi Arabia. Gold deposits related to volcanic rocks are also present and include the world-class Mahd adh Dhahab and Al Amar deposits of Saudi Arabia.
The process of craton formation during the collision of the western and eastern blocks of the Arabian shield produced gold deposits related to granitic intrusions and gold deposits related to ultramafic rocks/major shear zones (orogenic Au in suture zones). Gold deposits related to ultramafic rocks/major shear zones are concentrated along the north–northwest-trending collisional suture zone separating the west and east blocks of the Arabian shield.
Examples of significant gold deposits related to granitic rocks include the Sukhaybarat and Ad Duwayhi deposits in Saudi Arabia. A period of magmatic activity followed the craton formation process and generated numerous granitic intrusions throughout the Arabian shield. During this time many deposits of molybdenum, tin, tungsten, niobium, tantalum, yttrium, and rare earth elements (REE) related to granitic intrusions were formed. The most significant of these is the world-class Ghurayyah deposit (niobium, tantalum) in northwest Saudi Arabia.
Rocks of the Arabian platform host the vast petroleum and natural gas resources of the Middle East. Phosphate is the most economically important nonfuel mineral resource in Arabian platform rocks. Phosphate-bearing sedimentary rock sequences are present in Mesozoic Cenozoic basins of the northern part of the Arabian peninsula and extend from Saudi Arabia into Jordan, Israel, Syria, and Iraq. This region represents the eastern end of the Tethyan phosphate
province that extends across North Africa and into the Middle East. Important phosphate deposits related to sedimentary rocks include the Esh Shidiya deposit in Jordan, the Sawab and Akashat deposits in western Iraq, and the Al Jalamid, Al Amud, and Umm Wu’al deposits in northern Saudi Arabia.
Rocks of the Arabian platform also host deposits of copper, lead, zinc, silver, and aluminum. Copper deposits related to sedimentary rocks are found at Timna, Israel and in Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of southwest Jordan and northwest Saudi Arabia. Accumulations of lead and zinc minerals have been observed in Mesozoic sedimentary rocks within a deep petroleum well in northeast Saudi Arabia and a lead-zinc-silver deposit related to sedimentary rocks is hosted in Mesozoic rocks at Jabali, Yemen.
The Az Zabirah deposit innortheast Saudi Arabia is a significant aluminum deposit related to sedimentary rocks. The Arabian platform also contains significant industrial mineral resources, in addition to phosphate. These include silica sandstone, limestone, and bedded salt deposits in northern and eastern Saudi Arabia, and salt dome deposits in the southern Persian Gulf and southern Iran. The Tethysides geologic province is also well endowed in a variety of nonfuel mineral resources. Particularly the Pontide magmatic arc along the Black Sea coast of Turkey and the central magmatic arc of Iran contain numerous copper-gold deposits related to granitic intrusions, zinc-copper deposits related to volcanic rocks, gold deposits related to volcanic and sedimentary rocks, and iron deposits related to granitic intrusions. Significant examples include the Sar Cheshmeh deposit in Iran (copper-gold), the Cayelli deposit in Turkey (zinc-copper), and the Bafq district (iron) in Iran. Significant lead-zinc deposits related to sedimentary rocks also occur in the Tethysides and include the Mehdiabad and Angouran deposits in Iran.
Deposits of chromium related to ultramafic rocks and copper related to (mafic) volcanic rocks are present in suture zones of the Tethysides. The most significant deposits of this type are found in Cyprus, Turkey, and Oman, and include the Skouriotissa and Mathiati deposits of Cyprus (copper, sulfur), the Guleman, Kopdag and Koycediz districts of Turkey (chromium), and the Aarja deposit in Oman (copper). Extensional basins in western Turkey host significant gold deposits related to volcanic rocks and borate deposits (source of boron) related to sedimentary rocks.
Gold deposits, yet to be developed, include the Ovacik, Kisladag, Efemcukuru, and Cukurdere deposits. The borate deposits of western Turkey represent 60 percent of the world’s reserves of borate. Significant deposits are concentrated in the Kirka, Emet, Bigadic, and Kestelek districts of northwest Turkey.
The Red Sea Basin hosts a variety of nonmetallic and metallic mineral resources. These include salt, potash (a source of potassium), zinc, lead, and the potential for gold. Salt and potash deposits are found throughout the length of the Red Sea coastal regions. The most significant deposit is found at the Farasan Islands off the southwest coast of Saudi Arabia. Deposits of lead and zinc related to sedimentary rocks are found within the northern Red Sea
coastal plain regions of Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The most significant deposits are the Jabal Dhaylan, in Saudi Arabia, and the Umm Gheig, in Egypt.
Deposits of zinc, lead, gold and silver are currently being deposited locally from hot metal-rich brines in “deeps” in the axial trough of the Red Sea. Gold prospects related to volcanic rocks are present in western Yemen. This, in conjunction with the presence of active hot springs along the southern Red Sea margin, make the region prospective for undiscovered gold deposits related to volcanic rocks.
A recurrent theme of this report is that mineral deposits are associated with large-scale geologic processes that reoccur in time and place. Mineral deposits do not occur randomly; their distribution is intimately related to the geologic history of each continent. The more we know about the geologic fabric of each continent and the processes that control the regional and local distribution of mineral deposits, the better we can answer where new deposits will be found and what they will contain.
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