Full List of Precious Stones Found in Nigeria

Precious stones as the name implies, are glamouring solid raw material on the earth’s crust. These gemstones, as often called are much valuable, and their attractive appearance makes them very lucrative. In Nigeria, there are many of these gemstones as we will outline the full list of precious stones currently found in Nigeria.

Before going into the list of gemstones in Nigeria, let’s know whether these stones are distinguishable from other stones, their classification, and how they occur in nature.

About Precious Stones (Gemstones)

A precious stone (also called a gem) is a piece of mineral crystal which, is cut and used to make jewelry or other adornments. These precious stones are often times referred as gemstones. A precious is not different from gemstones, either the name still means the same thing. Contrasting the both, a precious stone is a highly attractive and valuable piece of mineral, used especially in jewellery while a gemstone is a mineral or petrified material that when cut and polished can be used in jewelry.

Hardness is one of the characteristic feature of precious stones. An obvious example is diamond which is one of the hardest mineral on earth. These precious stones are usually hard and they will first undergo some cut and polish processes before they can be used to produce glamouring products like jewellry, ornamentals and other shining decoratives.

Precious stones are much valued and this makes them very lucrative in the market, both locally and internationally. This is because on seeing their brightening appearance when they are out, it is much admired for being beautiful, attractive and good- looking.  The much desire of people for glamouring, flashing and beautiful decoratives and jewelries, has make the demand for precious stones to be high, hence prompting the valueness of it.

Full List of Precious Stones Found in Nigeria & Location

There are many precious stones in they country, and they occur in differing appearance (color, shape and size). Our list will encompass all the available precious stones in Nigeria, their specification and where they are found. Here is the rundown:

Diamond

Diamond is the most famed and fabled of all gemstones. Renowned for being the hardest substance on earth, its sparkling fire, durability, and rarity make Diamond the most prized of all gems. In Nigeria, a diamond with a weight of 1 carat is worth about N320,000 (though the price may alterate atimes, but thats the range).

Diamonds has various variant as most are colorless or very faintly colored, they may occur in Blue, Red, Green, Yellow, Orange, Brown, Pink, Purple, Gray, Black or even colorless. However, colored Diamonds, known as “fancies”, can be extremely rare and valuable, and the most valuable gemstones ever known have been fancy Diamonds, which costs million dollar per one carat.

Diamond is a very rare gem, and it is not much in Nigeria. A considerate quantity of diamonds is found in Katsina state, and rarely small deposits in few parts of Northern Nigeria.

Tourmaline

This kind of gemstone is outrightly one of the best pick in Nigeria. Much is attributed to it because of it colorfulness adding with its availability and popularity in the country. This precious stone is very attractive with it several colours which includes white, red, pink, green, blue, and so on.

Comercial quantities of Tourmaline is available in Oyo State (precisely in regions like Idoko, Komu, Itasa), Nasarawa State (Keffi, Saura, Anngwan Marcho, Garaku, Gidan Kadiri, and so on), Kaduna Satate (specifically in Kagarko, Gidan Waya) and Kwara State (Lemo Ndeji, Ora, Oro). However, some quantities of it are also located in Kogi, Taraba, Bauchi and Osun States.

Sapphire

Blue in color, Sapphire is a very critical gemstone. This is for the fact that they are very valuable and brings lots of money. Interestingly, a gram of sapphire can cost as huge as $10,000 in the international market.

Though it is very worthsome, they are very uncommon, and are found in bit quantities. But notwithstanding, sapphire can be found in places like: Mambila Plateau in Taraba State; Antah and Nisama regions of Kaduna state; Bogoro in Bauchi State; Gunda in Yobe State; and Bokkos area in Plateau State.

Amethyst

Amethyst is a purple-coloured gem. This precious stone is located in the Northern region of the country. States like Kaduna, Kano, Bauchi, Nasawara and Oyo can boost of quantities of it.

Aquamarine

Aquamarine is a green-blue to blue variety of the mineral beryl, which occurs as a gemstone. This kind of gem is very precious, valuable and is marketed at a huge price.

In Nigeria, quantities of Aquamarine can be found in these areas: Akwanga, Nasarawa, Jenta, Igwo, and Agwada region of Nasarawa State. The gem is also deposited in Ijebu Igbo and Igbo Ora in Ogun state; in Kogi State (precisely Okene and Isanlu); and also in Ibadan, Oyo State.

Emerald

Emerald is a very glamouring and expensive precious stone. Its colourfulness and fascinating nature makes it a very important resource for the jewelry industry. Nigeria is not exempted from having this kind of gemstone, as quantities of it could be found mostly in the Northern region.
Deposits of Emerald in Nigeria are in: Gwantu, Kaduna State; and Nasarawa Egon in Nasarawa State.

Garnet

Gernet is a clear dark red precious stone that is fairly valuable. It is popular in the Middle-belt axis of the country, which includes Bauchi Oyo and Plateau states.

Zircon

Zircon is a precious stone that is quite close to diamond in resemblance. This goes to show how it is very attractive and admiring. This kind of gemstone is fairly available in Nigeria, and it can be found in considerate deposits in Kaduna State.

Topaz

Topaz is a clear yellow precious stone that also comes in various colours. It is a beautiful gemstone that is valuable and is sold at a good price in the jewelry market.
Quantities of Topaz is deposited in Jos, Plateau State; Bauchi state; Nasarawa State (precisely in Jenta and Akwanga) and Oyo State.

Other Precious Stones in Nigeria

Though the aforementioned gem are the popular and abundant precious stones in Nigeria, there are other kinds of precious stones which traces of them are also in the country. Some of these gemstones might be in small quantities, but they are pretty lucrative and valuable in the global market.

Here is the list of some other gemstones available in Nigeria:

• Ruby
• Goshenite
• Heliodort
• Kunzite
• Arget
• Opal
• Tanzanite and Morganite

Conclusion

Precious stones otherwise referred to as gem or gemstone, is an essential natural resources to any country. These nature’s gift is very valuable and lucrative for the economy. A lot of gemstones like diamond, ruby and sapphire are very profitable because of the high price tag for them in the international market.

Nigeria has lots of precious stones situated within it borders. They are found mostly in the Northern part of the country. In terms of the availability of these precious stones, Nassarawa state, ‘the home of solid minerals’ has the most gemstones than any other state in the country. Why not try a visit there and see how these precious stones looks like?

Thats our take on this, as we have explicitly listed the precious stones in Nigeria and where they are found.