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The Resources of the Niger Delta: Minerals 14 RESOURCES OF THE NIGER DELTA: MINERALS
 * Mining in the Niger Delta
 * Oil Mining in the Niger Delta; the Moral Issue
 * Oil Geology and Production
 * The National Importance of Oil in Nigeria
 * The International Importance of Oil in Nigeria
 * Natural Gas
 * Sand
 * Soil and Clay
 * Periwinkle Shells
 * Salt

14.1 MINING IN THE NIGER DELTA

It is because of oil and gas that the international community is interested in the Niger Delta, but for Local People, sand, soil and clay, periwinkle shells and salt are no less important. However, a number of mineral resources are mined in the Niger Delta but oil is the most important. Important in terms of its international demand, of its value to the Nigerian economy and of the impact that oil mining has upon the human ecology of the area. No one can live in the Niger Delta without becoming aware that oil is the political, economic and environmental issue that eclipses all others. Next to oil, its associate product, gas, is the most important, and likely to become more so in years to come.

The previous chapters have discussed renewable natural resources. If their exploitation is managed properly - so that the ecosystems, which produce them, remain viable - they can be produced indefinitely, be they fish, bushmeat, timber or agricultural produce. Thus, fishermen, hunters, loggers and farmers have an incentive to manage these ecosystems sensibly in order to ensure they continued supply of what they need.

Mineral resources, on the other hand, are non-renewable. Their exploitation is not dependent upon the viability of ecosystems, the degradation of which has little, if any, impact upon their supply. In fact in modern times the commercial exploitation of minerals has shown scant respect for the viability of ecosystems because the short-term maximisation of returns on capital does not take into account the cost of the ecological damage caused by mining. This is a cost borne most heavily by Local People (host communities) and not by the owners of mining companies. For example, large areas of Europe remain scarred by nineteenth century mining activity.

Nonetheless, it would be wrong to assume that mining inevitably has a greater impact than does the exploitation of ecosystems for renewable natural resources. For instance a well-managed oil field can have a much less damaging impact than a large mono-crop plantation. A farm road has no less of an impact than a road serving an oil field. 146