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The Horn of Africa, with its mix of pirates and civil wars, has not seen much interest in the exploration and development of mining, writes Dr Nicolaas C Steenkamp.
Shangani Old City in Mogadishu, Somalia. Image credit: Pexels | Yahye Somali
The Horn of Africa is considered one of the more dangerous areas on the continent. The region has suffered destabilisation through civil wars and in offering safe harbour to pirates operating off the coast. The formal boundaries on the maps do not reflect the boundaries on the ground. A map of Africa indicates the Horn of Africa to consist of Somalia, but in reality, Somalia lies only along the southern part of the region, with Puntland on the tip of the Horn and Somaliland forming the northernmost region. Somaliland and Puntland are however not recognised internationally as independent countries. The collapse of the central government and the Somali Republic in 1991 has led to ambiguity over mineral rights and legislation has not been updated since 1984.
The territory has a very long history of habitation and has seen various changes in its demography, dominant religion and various periods of rule by foreign entities up until its current fragmented independent status. The region is mainly desert, which also limits its potential of developing agriculture independent of imports. The turmoil in the region has also resulted in the exodus of large numbers of its citizens to other parts of the world. The region, however, holds a very strategic position when it comes to maritime movement along the Middle East and Africa.
Geologically the region can be subdivided into two areas – the northern part of Somaliland and Puntland and the main Somalia region, respectively. The former comprises mostly of crystalline basement rocks and minor parts of a sedimentary succession, while the latter in the southern part, consists of two Phanerozoic basins, sandwiching an elliptical area also of crystalline basement rocks.
Somaliland
Somaliland is bordered by Djibouti to the west, Ethiopia to the south, and Somalia to the east and has an 850-kilometre coastline with the majority of the coast lying along the Gulf of Aden. The northern part of the Somaliland is hilly, the Sahil and Maroodi Jeex regions are fertile and mountainous, while Togdheer is mostly semi-desert. The Awdal region is also known for its offshore islands, coral reefs and mangroves. The main export is livestock, with sheep, camels and cattle shipped from the Berbera Port and sent to Arab countries in the gulf. In June 2016, the Somaliland government signed an agreement with DP World to manage the strategic Port of Berbera. The goal is to enhance productive capacity and serve as an alternative port for landlocked Ethiopia.
Exploration has been largely limited to offshore oil. The government of Somaliland granted Genel Energy a license to explore for oil in 2012. It was indicated that the various blocks may contain in excess of 7 billion barrels of prospective combined resources. Further exploration drilling in the remaining blocks is scheduled for 2023 and 2024.
Lignitic to sub-bituminous coal deposits occur in various locations across the country including Hed-Hed valley south of Onkhor, Guveneh hills north of Las Dureh and Daban Basin southeast of Berbera.
The main hard rock mining has been focused on quarrying industrial and construction material for local consumption. The government of Somaliland has made efforts to promote its mining sector internationally, most notably during the 2014 Mining Indaba held in South Africa. Based on historic information and some unconfirmed reports, Somaliland hosts occurrences of various minerals. Gemstones are mainly hosted in pegmatite veins, and most of the pegmatites occur between Berbera and Bawn. The gemstones encountered to date include emerald, ruby, sapphire, aquamarine, topaz, tourmaline, zircon, garnet, amethyst, spinel, opal and semi-precious diopside, citrine, epidote and jadite.
Gold mineralisation is associated with mineralised veins in porphyritic granite and placer deposits in alluvial sediments on the foothills. Most of the operations are undertaken by artisanal miners using very basic recovery methods. Gold nuggets were discovered in the Irshida Mountains in 2019.
Large tin deposits are known at the Assilih-Dalan-Dagah Kul area eastern Sanaag region. The main ore bodies consist of numerous grouped quartz and pegmatite veins. There are also placer deposits with cassiterite grains and crystal fragments ranging in recovery sizes of between 1 to 3mm. The coastal black sand deposits contain over 70% iron and titanium ore.
Industrial minerals including gypsum, cement materials, mica, marble, feldspar, quartz and a range of decorative stones and good quality glass-making sand have been identified. A preliminary estimation of the gypsum and anhydrite resource available on surface in the eastern part of the Daban Basin, near Berbera is in excess of 180 million tons, with purity of over 95%. Initial test work also indicates the pegmatites host economical quantities of potassium feldspar.
Puntland – ‘land of aroma’
Puntland is bordered by Somaliland to its west, the Gulf of Aden in the north, the Guardafui Channel in the northeast, the Indian Ocean in the southeast, the central Galmudug region in the south, and Ethiopia in the southwest. The region is semi-arid, with a warm climate with several high mountain ranges.
The economic activities relate mainly to livestock, fishery, frankincense and myrrh (from whence the region derives its name) and petty trading. While the country is largely dependent on imports and foreign aid, the Puntland region has the lowest unemployment rate in the Horn of Africa. The government has engaged with the Chinese government to upgrade infrastructure in exchange for as-yet unknown mineral exploration rights.
The Puntland government also had official negotiations with foreign oil companies over exploration rights in the area. In 2005 Range Resources was given a majority stake in two sizable land-based mineral and hydrocarbon exploration licenses, in addition to offshore rights.
Gold was discovered in the Golis mountains near Milxo and is found as nuggets that are manually recovered from alluvial and surface deposits. There is also primary hard rock mining that takes place. The mined gold is then processed into dore bars and suggested to then be exported by various means to the UAE for refining.
Somalia
Somalia’s terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highland. Hot conditions prevail year-round, along with periodic monsoon winds and irregular rainfall. With a predominantly informal economy based on livestock, remittance/money transfer companies and telecommunications, the country is largely dependent on foreign aid and imports to meet the needs of its population.
Somalia officially produces small quantities of gemstones and salt and also has deposits of feldspar, gypsum, iron ore, copper, gold, kaolin, limestone, natural gas, quartz, silica sand, tantalum, tin and uranium. Gemstone and salt producers are mainly artisanal and small-scale in nature. Civil war forced the closure of Somalia’s parastatal operated cement plant and oil refinery. The Turkish government is moving to exploit oil, gas and mining prospects in Somalia. However, unlike Puntland and Somaliland, Somalia has no proven oil or gas reserves.
Somalia has a large known reserve of uranium mineralisation, hosted in sandstone and calcrete deposits. American, UAE, Italian and Brazilian mineral companies have obtained extraction rights. Industrial and construction mineral quarries are also operated on a small-scale basis here and cater to domestic requirements.
Closure
Until the political situation in the Horn of Africa has been resolved and stable governments are established, the region still has a very long way to go to realise its mining potential. The region must establish new borders and countries that are recognised internationally, and progress legislation to attract any real interest in exploration and development of the mining sector. The first step would be to develop a fully verified mineral inventory of all the mineral occurrences and deposits in the region.
As it stands right now, the Horn of Africa could be the source of unknown riches, or would the history of its civil wars and the region’s current status mean that this opens the proverbial ‘Pandora’s box’? Only the future will tell.
About the Author
Dr Nicolaas C Steenkamp is an independent consultant, specialising in geological, geotechnical and geometallurgical projects and mining project management. He has over two decades of industry experience with global exposure. ncs.contract@gmail.com