Clay Mineral Deposits - Africa is endowed with clay rich countries and clay is gotten from majority of the states in Nigeria, and is deposited in most of the states in larger quantities, the states include; Abuja (FCT) Akwa Ibom, Anambra State, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Lagos, Nasarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, and Sokoto.
Clay has a long history of existence if not the oldest; it has also been termed the oldest building material on Earth. It is not a new natural resource in Nigeria and Africa as a whole as it was used in the ancient times in the building of huts and even in the modern day Nigeria, some of these structures are still visibly seen not only in the building of houses but also in other home wares such as plates and water pots.
Clay is a type of soil or natural rock with fine grain particles, it is non-porous due to its closely parked particle and these make it retain water. The water content in clays makes it have a plastic nature and become brittle, hard and non–plastic upon firing giving it a permanent physical and chemical change.
Clay has different colours depending on the content of the soil in which it was found, the colour ranges from white to dull grey or brown to deep orange-red. Clay deposits have some amounts of water which is trapped in the mineral structure, such mineral like phyllosilicate which clay is mostly composed of.
Clay deposits consist of the primary and secondary stages; While the primary clays are formed as a residual deposit in soil and trapped at the site of formation the Secondary clays rather have been transported by water erosion from their original location and deposited in a new sedimentary deposit.
Clay deposits can be found in large lakes and marine basins because of its extremely low energy sedimentary environment.
The formation of clay takes a long period of time which is as a result of what is known as chemical weathering of rocks which occurs gradually, usually the silicate-bearing ones, by low concentrations of diluted solvents like carbonic acid.
The acidic solvents leaches the upper weathered layers and then move through the weathering rock, and it is in this process of hydrothermal activity that some clay minerals are formed.
Even though clay can be commercially mined in West African countries like Nigeria by companies through a clay pit, it is mainly dug locally from its sources by Nigerians as its deposits are eventually scattered across various areas and don't require any special instrument for detecting it except for the mining companies which might require a larger deposit of the mineral.
For the industrial processing or manufacturing of clay, two processes are used which are;
(1) dry process
(2) wet or slurry process
In the manufacturing of clay using any of these processes, it generally undergoes an extraction, blending, crushing and drying phases with a specific machinery for each function or phases.
Uses of Clay
Clay has a long history of existence if not the oldest; it has also been termed the oldest building material on Earth. It is not a new natural resource in Nigeria and Africa as a whole as it was used in the ancient times in the building of huts and even in the modern day Nigeria, some of these structures are still visibly seen not only in the building of houses but also in other home wares such as plates and water pots.
Clay is a type of soil or natural rock with fine grain particles, it is non-porous due to its closely parked particle and these make it retain water. The water content in clays makes it have a plastic nature and become brittle, hard and non–plastic upon firing giving it a permanent physical and chemical change.
Clay has different colours depending on the content of the soil in which it was found, the colour ranges from white to dull grey or brown to deep orange-red. Clay deposits have some amounts of water which is trapped in the mineral structure, such mineral like phyllosilicate which clay is mostly composed of.
Clay deposits consist of the primary and secondary stages; While the primary clays are formed as a residual deposit in soil and trapped at the site of formation the Secondary clays rather have been transported by water erosion from their original location and deposited in a new sedimentary deposit.
Clay deposits can be found in large lakes and marine basins because of its extremely low energy sedimentary environment.
The formation of clay takes a long period of time which is as a result of what is known as chemical weathering of rocks which occurs gradually, usually the silicate-bearing ones, by low concentrations of diluted solvents like carbonic acid.
The acidic solvents leaches the upper weathered layers and then move through the weathering rock, and it is in this process of hydrothermal activity that some clay minerals are formed.
Even though clay can be commercially mined in West African countries like Nigeria by companies through a clay pit, it is mainly dug locally from its sources by Nigerians as its deposits are eventually scattered across various areas and don't require any special instrument for detecting it except for the mining companies which might require a larger deposit of the mineral.
For the industrial processing or manufacturing of clay, two processes are used which are;
(1) dry process
(2) wet or slurry process
In the manufacturing of clay using any of these processes, it generally undergoes an extraction, blending, crushing and drying phases with a specific machinery for each function or phases.
Uses of Clay
- Clay is used in pottery making.
- Used in products construction like bricks, wall and floor tiles.
- Clay when subjected firing in combination with different minerals produces earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain.
- There clays such as Bentonite Clay and other which are believed to have healing powers and are used in many health and cosmetic products.