Edo State produced 3.7 million tonnes of mineral products in 2021.
The data is contained in a report titled, ‘Mineral Production Statistics (2021)’, which was released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In the report, Ogun State was reported to have produced 32 million tonnes of mineral products, the highest in the country; Kogi State, with 18.4 million tonnes ranked second, while Cross River State recorded 11.6 million tonnes.
According to NBS, the major mineral products from Edo State in 2021 are the clay, feldspar, gold, granite aggregate, granite dust, laterite, limestone and sand.
The breakdown of the production data showed that the state produced 214,997 tonnes of clay; 4,000 tonnes of feldspar; 6,300 tonnes of gold; 474,879 tonnes of granite aggregate; 81,654 tonnes of granite dust; 41,284 tonnes of laterite; 2.8 million tonnes of limestone and 37,500 tonnes of sand.
Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, had, at a retreat earlier in the year, stressed that the state was going to focus on attracting more investors in the solid minerals sector, as it already has a comparative advantage in the area, with two of the biggest producers of cement, Dangote and BUA, having big factories in the state.
