The minerals of Africa are an important economic resource

Africa is not only a continent, famous for its original nature and culture, this continent has a rich reserve of natural resources. In the equatorial zone there is a large part of the continent, which provides optimal conditions for the growth of forests, the mass fraction of which is 10% of the total area of the forest massif of the Earth. Wood is the main commodity exported.

Another treasury of Africa is the Sahara desert, the depths of which hide huge reserves of fresh water. On this continent are the largest rivers of the planet, which are rightly called the energy minerals of Africa.

The minerals of Africa are the main suppliers of resources for the enterprises of ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, chemical enterprises for the whole planet. The subsoil of Africa is rich in phosphorites, chromites, and titanium. The main reserves of ores (uranium, cobalt, copper, manganese), as well as precious minerals and metals (diamonds, gold) of the globe are concentrated on this continent. The minerals of northern Africa, which include sedimentary minerals, gas and oil, are of global importance. South and central Africa is valued by magmatic minerals - ores of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, as well as diamonds.

Deposits of minerals are due to the formation of the continent's relief. In the north, there are more lowlands and lowers, which were flooded with seas, so that in the form of precipitation formed coal, manganese ore. East and south of Africa are represented by plateaus and highlands, which historically formed on the site of vertical and horizontal movements of platforms, so this part is rich in diamonds, gold, uranium ores.

This continent possesses such an unimaginable supply that the minerals of Africa on the map do not leave one free space, literally every millimeter of the area contains one or another mineral. Africa is famous for its deposits of ores, the formation of which dates back to the birth of the Paleozoic. At present, this platform is exposed at the equator and the south of the continent, in connection with which, it is these areas that have become the concentration of ore deposits. Thanks to such "exposure" of ancient platforms, the population of the planet became accessible copper deposits in South Africa, in Southern Rhodesia are engaged in the development of chromites, Nigeria is famous for tin and tungsten, Ghana is manganese, and the island of Madagascar can provide the entire planet with graphite. But all the same, Africans thank the Paleozoic for the deposits of gold. Perhaps in some areas, Africa lags behind the countries of the west, but in the field of gold mining, this continent, in the person of South Africa, has long and firmly held the position of leader.

The Cambrian period of the formation of terrestrial platforms considers the beginning of the laying of a copper belt, which formed such minerals of Africa as copper, tin, cobalt, lead, tungsten and brought it to the leading positions in the world. In the development and production of the above fossils, Africa ranks second. During this period, deposits of uranium and platinum ores were formed on the continent. In the depths of the sea formed iron ore, but due to the deposition of sea salts, these minerals of Africa are low-grade.

At the junction of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic, the Earth's continental platform experienced a quiet period with no movement of the earth's platforms, which allowed the formation of coal deposits, which are especially numerous in South Africa, Rhodesia, Congo and Madagascar.

The Sahara-Sudan plain of Africa is the most complex structure in structure, which underwent fractures and outcrops of rocks, elevations and deflections of ancient foundations, is valued by deposits of iron, manganese ores and oil.