Africa is not only the mainland, famous for its unique nature and culture, this continent has a rich reserve of natural resources. A large part of the mainland is located in the equatorial zone, which provides optimal conditions for the growth of forests, the mass fraction of which is 10% of the total forest area of the Earth. Wood is the main exported commodity.
Another treasury of Africa is the Sahara desert, the bowels 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.
Minerals in Africa are the main suppliers of resources for ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, chemical enterprises for the entire planet. The bowels of Africa are 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 North Africa, which include sedimentary minerals, gas and oil, are of global importance. South and central Africa is valued for igneous minerals - ores of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, as well as diamonds.
Mineral deposits are caused by the formation of the relief of the continent. In the north there are more lowlands and subsidence that were flooded by the seas, so coal and manganese ores formed in the form of precipitation. The east and south of Africa are represented by plateaus and uplands, which historically formed on the site of vertical and horizontal movements of the platforms, therefore this part is rich in diamonds, gold, and uranium ores.
This continent has such an unimaginable reserve that Africa’s mineral resources do not leave one empty spot on the map, literally every millimeter of the area contains one or another mineral. Africa is famous for ore deposits, the formation of which dates back to the Paleozoic. Currently, this platform is exposed on the equator and south of the mainland, and therefore, these areas have become the concentration of ore deposits. Thanks to this “exposure” of ancient platforms, copper deposits became available to the planet’s population in South Africa, chromites are developed in Southern Rhodesia, Nigeria is famous for tin and tungsten, Ghana is famous for manganese, and the island of Madagascar can well provide the entire planet with graphite. But still, Africans thank the Paleozoic for gold deposits. It may be that 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 its leadership position.
The Cambrian period of the formation of earth platforms is considered the beginning of the laying of the honey belt, which formed such minerals of Africa as copper, tin, cobalt, lead, tungsten and brought it to a leading position in the world. In the development and extraction of the above-mentioned minerals, Africa is in second place. During this period, deposits of uranium and platinum ores formed on the continent. Iron ores formed in the depths of the sea, but due to the deposition of sea salts, these African minerals are low-grade.
At the junction of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic, the continent’s earth platform experienced a calm period with the lack of movement of earth 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 formation, which has undergone fractures and outcrops of rocks, the elevation and deflection of antique foundations, is valued by deposits of iron, manganese ores and oil.