Nigeria is blessed with abundant mineral resources, which are from time immemorial formed the backbone of the nation’s economic and industrial development aspirations. Prior to independence, the nation’s mineral raw material resources contributed immensely to the export earnings of the nation. 

For over three decades, the country has continued to depend entirely on oil for her revenue and the volatile nature of the oil market has made it imperative for us to diversify the mono-product economy through exploitation and processing of our abundant solid mineral resources.

The clamour for resource control being advocated by states with petroleum resources in their domain makes it imperative for us to develop, exploit, process and utilize our solid minerals – particularly Non-metallic Minerals as every part of this country is blessed with one or more solid mineral that could yield substantial revenue for sustainable development. 

Exploitation of the Non-metallic Minerals has not attained the desired level, mainly because of the various constraints associated with their exploitation, development and processing for utilization. Many of the non-metallic minerals, which are vital to the industrial take off of the country, have been found in commercial quantities within the country. 

They include limestone, dolomite, marble, kaolin, barite, diatomite, feldspar, quartz and silica sands, gypsum, talc, silimanite, kyanite, phosphate, salt and bentonite.

Precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) is an innovative product derived from lime, which has many industrial applications. Precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) is made by hydrating high-calcium quicklime and then reacting the resulting slurry, or “milk-of-lime”, with carbon dioxide.

Precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) is a versatile additive for use in a wide range of plastic and elastomeric applications. Its regular and controlled crystalline shape and ultrafine particle size, together with the hydrophobic surface coating, combine to the benefit of both polymer processing and subsequent physical properties.

The importance of precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) cannot be overemphasized. In paints, precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC)’s unique particle size shapes improve capacity and allow reductions in titanium dioxide levels.  It has versatile application such as in emulsion paints, architectural finishes, traffic paint, industrial primers, undercoats in rubbers.  It is widely used in high value rubber products.

In health applications, precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) is an effective acid neutralizer and it enables the formulation of high dosage calcium supplements and multi-vitamin/mineral tablets.  In paper industry, precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) is well established as a filler and coating pigment for premium quality paper products.  

Precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) enhances optical properties and print characteristics of paper products, improves paper machine productivity.

The future of ground and precipitated calcium carbonate market looks good with opportunities in the packaging, building & construction, transportation, and industrial end use industries. The global ground and precipitated calcium carbonate market is expected to reach an estimated $23.5 billion by 2022 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.6% from 2017 to 2022. 

The major growth drivers for this market are increasing per capita paper consumption and growth in plastic demand in the building and construction industries.

The national demand estimate forprecipitated calcium carbonate in Nigeria is in excess of thirty thousand (30,000) MT per with most of the demand been met through importation. The raw material (limestone) is also available in commercial quantity in Nigeria.

Nigeria has an estimated reserve of limestone / marble in excess of over one billion (1,000,000,000) metric tons of Limestone / Marble scattered in different parts of the country to include Benue, Ogun, Edo, Kogi and Cross River states.