COUNTRY IN FOCUS •
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TOGO HOLDS SURPRISING POTENTIAL
The small country of Togo has a surprising diversity of mining and natural resources writes Dr Nicolaas C Steenkamp .
The small country of Togo may be missed with a quick glance at the map of Africa . Like most countries in West Africa that have their roots as a port country during the scramble for Africa , it has a sliver of coast and has a width of less than 11km which extends inland . Togo gained independence in 1960 and has since survived some unstable political times .
The topography of Togo ranges from a coast with sandy beaches and lagoons , to a hilly centre grading into a savannah in the northern portion of the country . The country is generally considered to be tropical with the main export produce being coffee , cacao beans , peanuts and cotton as a cash product , while Togo is dependent on the import of most equipment , fuel and food products . The country has two main highways that connect the largest cities to the borders of its neighbours . With only one transport harbour , trade is assisted by inland travel on the largest river .
Geologically , Togo is underlain by Precambrian rocks with only the southern part of the country having occurrences of Cretaceous to Tertiary basin sediments , which dip gently towards the sea .
Mining is responsible for approximately a third of the GDP and employs up to 12 % of the population with mineral exploration and mining operations regulated by the Ministry of Mines and Energy . The government ’ s strategy to date has been to reduce royalty payments on mineral mining and to implement a ‘ first come , first served ’ policy in the allocation of mining rights . In May 2019 , Spatial Dimension ( a Trimble company ) won , on an open tender , a World Bank-funded project to establish a Mining Registry System for the Ministry of Mines and Energy . The cadastre is active and can be viewed online ( https :// cadastreminier . tg / EN /), putting the country ahead in terms of transparency .
Hosting the fourth largest phosphate deposits in the world , Togo ' s mineral industry is dominated by the production and export of phosphate . The production of phosphate is led by the state-owned enterprise Société Nouvelle des Phosphates du Togo ( SNTP ), with main markets in Asia and Australia . The country has approximately 60 million tons in reserves . Phosphate rocks are found in Eocene deposits at Hahotoe-Akoumape and at Dagbati off the coastal basin . There are also considerable Neoproterozoic phosphate deposits , but these are too hardened to be developed economically .
Small amounts of precious metals and gemstones have been recorded in Togo , while gold anomalies have been discovered in many locations of Precambrian age but detailed exploration has not yet begun . Diamonds have also been found in alluvial formations in the rivers crossing the basic-ultrabasic trend and the Atacora structural unit . No formal mining of these commodities is taking place and these commodities are dominated by artisanal mining operations .
Base metal occurrences have also been recorded with zincmineralisation having been discovered near Pagala , about 280km north of Lome and the iron deposit of Bassar in the north of the country . Premier African Minerals Ltd owns the Pagala zinc mine , the Haito nickel mine , the Kara-Niamtougou uranium mine , and the Dapaong gold mine .
The manganese deposit of Nayega is located in northern Togo and Keras Resources has spent the last couple of years in negotiation with the government to develop it . The company also indicated that they would be willing to contribute 0.75 % of manganese sales revenue towards community development projects as part of their ESG commitment . Société Générale des Mines SARL , a subsidiary
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