The mining industry of

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

is centred mainly around the extraction of

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...

, ranking it 19th in world production. Other minerals extracted are

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

, and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

. More minerals identified but yet to be brought into production mode are

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...

bauxite Bauxite is a sedimentary rock with a relatively high aluminium content. It is the world's main source of aluminium and gallium. Bauxite consists mostly of the aluminium minerals gibbsite (Al(OH)3), boehmite (γ-AlO(OH)) and diaspore (α-AlO(O ...

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywall. ...

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

, rutile, and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

. The mineral sector contributes 2.8% to the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

Production and impacts

Phosphate output was 1.2 million tons in 2013. In 2011, its export accounted for 7.5% of the country's exports.

Clinker Clinker may refer to: *Clinker (boat building), construction method for wooden boats *Clinker (waste), waste from industrial processes *Clinker (cement), a kilned then quenched cement product * ''Clinkers'' (album), a 1978 album by saxophonist St ...

, limestone, and hydraulic cement have marked increased production in recent years. However, diamond production under the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme has shown a decline. One of the major companies operating in

is Keras Resources PLC, which plans to mine some 14 million tons at the Nayega manganese mine in northern Togo. The West African Cement Company, formerly Cement West Africa, is responsible for mining limestone in the

Tabligbo Tabligbo is a city and canton in Togo with 22,304 inhabitants (2010). It is the seat of Yoto prefecture in Maritime Region. Climate Industry It was the site of a cement clinker works - CIMAO cement. The plant was active from 1980 to 1984. Sev ...

basin near the coast. In 2002, 1,352,000 tons of limestone mined in Togo were used to manufacture 950,000 tons of

clinker Clinker may refer to: *Clinker (boat building), construction method for wooden boats *Clinker (waste), waste from industrial processes *Clinker (cement), a kilned then quenched cement product * ''Clinkers'' (album), a 1978 album by saxophonist St ...

. The clinker plant commissioned in 2015 has a capacity for the production of 5,000 tons of clinker per day, amounting to 1.5 million tons per year. Togo has several areas with deposits of diamonds and gold. The Birrimian area in the north is one of the main gold yielding areas.

Legal framework

Mining in the country is the responsibility of the Ministry of Mines and Energy. The Directorate General of Mines and Geology is the specific institution geared towards mineral exploration, analysis, and control of mining, which is in turn divided into three branches: the Research Directorate of Geology and Mining, The Directorate of Development and Mining Control, and the Laboratories Directorate of Mining and Oil. Legislation in practice in the mineral sector is law no. 96–004/pr of February 26, 1996, and as amended by Act no. 2003–012. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was in the process of further validation with the International Secretariat. As of April 2012, the mining code was also under the final stage of approval of the government.

References

External links

{{Mining in Africa Mining in Africa Economy of Togo