The published opinions of Government officials, engineers of repute, capitalists, traders, and travellers,all tend to prove that in Northern Nigeria we have one of the largest, if not the very largest, of the tin-producing areas of the world. Other minerals are known to exist, and very big developments may be looked for in the near future, as the pioneering efforts of the Niger Company and the Champion Gold Reefs of West Africa are being followed by powerful financial houses, but alluvial tin stands out, and will always stand out, as the leading product of this remarkable mineral country.
Two such astute men and persons so well acquainted with the country as Sir Walter Egerton, the Governor of Southern Nigeria, and the late Sir Alfred Jones, have expressed the strongest views as to the extent and importance of these tin deposits, and the acting Governor of Northern Nigeria in his latest report asserted that “with the introduction of more capital and a good means of transport from the field to the railway a very large development is anticipated.”
Mr. Lush says the Bauchi tin deposits are richer than he has seen in any part of the world. It is, he says, a granite country, and although the existence of reefs has been proved in one part of the district, the alluvial deposits—which yield tin oxide containing about 72 per cent. of metallic tin—are of principal importance.
Alluvial mining, has, of course, the demerit of being short-lived. There is no great depth in the deposits, and especially if they are worked economically—that is to say rapidly—they are exhausted in a comparatively short time. But the attention directed to the district in these alluvial workings will certainly lead to the discovery and opening-up of the tin lodes, which in course of time should prove a more lasting source of supply than the alluvials. Indeed, at two points, two tin lodes are already being opened up, and before long a good idea should be obtained of their value. The interests at work in the district will certainly see that every chance is given to this side of the business, but, of course, development upon a lode is very different work to that upon alluvial deposits, and progress may be slower in their case. It is very unlikely, with such an enormous area of stanniferous gravels, that lodes of importance should not be discovered as time goes on, and there appears to be no doubt that the tin production of Nigeria will become quite a factor in the markets of the world. Many things will have to happen before lode producing can be carried out upon a large scale, but as thealluvials are worked out, the labour employed upon them can be concentrated upon the most lasting deposits, and the operations of the alluvial miners should produce a working population which should be fitted to deal with the higher form of mining. Certain facilities will doubtless be given to the district, and some idea of the importance and the developments in this part of Nigeria can be gathered from the fact that the Bank of British West Africa has been earnestly invited to open an office in Bauchi. At present this matter is under consideration, since it is difficult to fix upon a spot which will be most suitable for such an institution to work, but before long it is probable that the tin-mining district will have the facilities offered by a bank.
Mr. Oliver Wethered, whose name is so well known in connection with the tin industry, has described to a meeting of shareholders the peculiar advantages of the country which is now attracting the attention of the tin markets of the world, and in the course of his address he said:
“Now as to the country in which our interests are centred, judging by the information that Ihave received from all available quarters, I have no hesitation in stating that we are interested in one of the most important virgin alluvial tin fields the world has ever seen, and certainly the most important that capitalists have had an opportunity of working as a new field. In Tasmania, Australia, and other countries which have produced large quantities of alluvial tin, the prospectors have gone in by hundreds, and even thousands, and have washed out large quantities of tin greatly to their own individual benefit. Subsequently the ground has been worked over and over again, and in recent years again re-worked by means of modern appliances. I may say here, that in Cornwall some of the ground must have been worked eight or ten times, and big plants are now being erected for the purpose of working it again by modern methods. It will be obvious to every one that with a practically untouched field, and working in the most economical and thorough way from the start, the results cannot fail to be extremely satisfactory.
“Undoubtedly one of the factors which has delayed the opening up of the tin fields of Nigeria has been the question of economical transport. But the Nigeria tin is of very high quality. It fetches, as a rule, anywhere from £6 to £8more a ton than Cornish tin, and in this connection I should like to read an extract from a letter which was written to me by the managing director of the largest tin smelting works in Europe, to whom I sent a sample of the tin oxide as it was received here, and of which, in acknowledging it, he says, ‘It is about 75 per cent. metallic tin, of excellent quality, equal to anything being put on the market, so far as my observation goes.’ I am very closely connected with Cornish mining, and there we get Bolivian, Straits, and all kinds of tin, and it is the general opinion that Nigerian tin is one of the very best tins imported into Europe, and will always command a price equal to, if not better than, that of the Straits. Even under existing conditions alluvial tin mining in Nigeria is a highly profitable business, but when the present railway system is completed, and the road made from the Government line to the tin field, the freight should be reduced by many pounds per ton, and the profit largely increased. The completion of the road would enable heavy machinery to be brought to the mines, when larger quantities of the rich alluvial ground would be handled in an economical way, and the work done at a cost much below what is possible under existing conditions. The lodes,too, of which there is undoubted evidence, could be worked. Meanwhile some machinery can be transported in sections, and the output of tin should be rapidly increased and the costs greatly reduced.”
Mr. Assheton Lever, in summing up the situation generally in Northern Nigeria to a meeting of shareholders, said:
“We know that there are considerable areas there which in some cases are very rich in alluvial tin. There are also tin lodes there; but that for the present is another story, because alluvial tin is a thing which is easily and comparatively inexpensively worked, whereas to work a lode mine requires good means of transport, and to be able to get up to the mines easily expensive and heavy machinery. We have a good climate, we have a sufficiency of water, and so far as we can ascertain, we have a sufficiency of native labour. All the companies which are interested in Northern Nigeria appear anxious to co-operate, and are willing to work together generally for their mutual benefit, and for the tin industry in particular.”
Mr. H. W. Lake, the consulting engineer, speaking in a professional capacity at the samemeeting, referred to the phenomenal richness of the river banks in the tin district in Northern Nigeria, while very rich alluvials are found on the flats, and when it comes to investigation of the river banks themselves very much larger quantities of black tin to the cubic yard are won. “I am speaking now,” he added, “from a certain amount of experience, because four years ago we had an expedition in the Bauchi district, and our engineer obtained some quite remarkable results from the alluvial. Of course, it is a new country. There is a great deal of pioneering work to be done, and what we have still to look forward to is steady systematic organisation for the next year or two. We do not want to make the mistakes that have been made in the opening up of many new countries—some of them not very far from Nigeria—but we do want to settle down to steady systematic development. As far as the railway is concerned, there seems no doubt that we shall have a line into the tin fields, which is going to simplify the question of transport, and reduce the costs very materially. With regard to the actual working of these alluvials, to begin with, I am of opinion that we should use the simplest methods possible—ground sluicing and so forth, but therewill come a time when we shall have very seriously to consider the question of hydraulicing and treating these alluvials on a very much larger scale than would be possible by means of sluicing.”
The extraordinary results obtained by the Naraguta Company might be regarded as exceptional, since it was a proved mine when taken over from the Niger Company, and the actual work done upon it has only confirmed what was previously known of its phenomenal value. But it may be said with great confidence, after careful examination, by not one, but many engineers, that the picture is not in any degree overdrawn. Moreover, the head of a great firm of mining engineers who was inclined to ridicule the values reported, has since admitted that he has altogether changed his opinion, and that he thinks from advices he has received, that the Malay Peninsula fields, even in their palmiest days, were never “in it” with the Northern Nigerian alluvial tin fields. In one place tin has been taken out, on the Dubbo property, belonging to the Lucky Chance Mines, extending over 640acres, which actually goes 120 lbs. to the cubic yard. That is to say, that the calabashers must be getting out tin almost pure. This may be only a pocket; but the whole character of the reports from the fields makes it perfectly certain that the general nature of the Bauchi district, where the alluvial tin is mostly found, is of an absolutely phenomenal character.
There is no doubt whatever that in this remote district of Nigeria, which until a few years ago, was closed to the white man by the ferocity of its inhabitants, nature has been concentrating tin for thousands and tens of thousands of years, until we have it now in very large quantities in an almost pure condition. To Sir Percy Girouard is largely due the honour of opening up this country, through the discipline he and his subordinates dealt out to the original inhabitants. To his successor, Sir Hesketh Bell, fell the duty and the honour of opening up further the country by a railway system which will make it a great Imperial acquisition.
The work of Sir Percy Girouard and Sir Hesketh Bell may be specially referred to, for they represent the Imperial Government; but we must not forget the work of the directors of the pioneer companies in London, who must haveworked continually to do what they have done. In the short space of only twelve months they have accomplished an amount of work which ordinary directors without enthusiasm would have taken years to do. The country has been searched for good properties, engineers have been despatched and machinery ordered, and such is the good work done in a small way with high values, that it is no exaggeration to say that many properties are now paying their way. All has been so swiftly done, and with so little fuss, that it seems like a fairy tale, and the public have no conception yet of the extraordinary value of these alluvial tin propositions in Northern Nigeria.
It is satisfactory to gather from the report of the acting Governor dated 11th December last, that the year 1909 was a very peaceful one, the military operations which it was found necessary to carry out being on a small scale, and chiefly on account of highway robberies. From all the Provinces it is reported that the general feelingof the Emirs and native chiefs towards the British Administration continues to be most friendly. They are beginning to show an intelligent interest and zeal in the political work, and political officers are receiving support in any scheme proposed for the improvement of the Native Administration. The people show signs of wishing to be on friendly terms with the Government, and the agricultural classes are feeling a sense of security which enables them to spread out in all directions and take up new holdings. Their present position is described as “one of progressive tranquillity and content.” The inter-colonial traffic in slaves has already ceased; local slave-dealing is not entirely stamped out, but it is not extensive, and last year 1,392 slaves were freed, practically all by means of native courts, the majority of these ex-slaves being self-redeemed.
The cultivation of food stuffs has increased; new markets have been established, and the present safety of the roads has greatly stimulated the internal trade of the country. A great improvement in the export trade has followed the extension of the Baro-Kano Railway. To the north of Minna there is a most extensive area of shea butter trees, but very little of theproduce of this area has so far been placed on the market, partly on account of the cost of transport, and partly owing to the reluctance of the pagans to have intercourse with markets outside their districts. The construction of the railway has done much towards gaining the confidence of these people, and the reduction in the cost of transport, consequent upon the completion of the railway, will render it possible to place profitably this sylvan produce on European markets. Further north the railway will pass through the rich agricultural and stock-raising Lausa provinces, which at present export live-stock, skins, and potass by means of annual caravans. The idea that Northern Nigeria is an especially unhealthy place for European residents is scarcely borne out by the total death-rate of roughly twenty per thousand, calculated on the average resident European population; but the proportion of officers invalided home is still large, though it is much smaller than it was a few years ago, when less satisfactory sanitary conditions prevailed at the stations.
Although the addition of the Nigerian Protectorates to the Empire is primarily due to the prescience and enterprise of the Niger Company,that corporation has no monopoly of trade within their boundaries nor any special advantage over other traders. It takes its chances against rival firms in the many spots in which it comes into competition with them. At Gana Gana, for instance, the company’s first station beyond Burutu, the German firm of Bey & Zimmer has a depôt. John Holt & Co., E. H. Stern & Co., J. T. Palmer & Co., Pagenstecher, and the British Cotton Growing Association are all represented in Nigeria, and the firm of G. W. Christian & Co. has established important trading stations at most of the principal towns on the river. As recently as 1904 Messrs. Christian started operations in Nigeria at a small place named Proropro on the left bank of the Niger; to-day they have branches at Forcados, Burutu, Onitsha, Illah, Illushi, Idah, and Lokoja, and at all these centres they not only conduct a large cash and barter trade, but undertake equipments and accept commissions, and cater in every way for the requirements of both Europeans and natives. The extraordinarily rapid rise and progress of this firm is almost entirely due to the exceptional qualifications for the trade possessed by the principal, Mr. George William Christian, who was born in Liverpool in1872, and who, from the early age of fifteen has been associated with West Africa, and in twenty-five years has acquired a thorough experience and first-hand knowledge of the British and native needs of the Protectorates.