The economic potential of some metacarbonate rocks in Akoko-Edo, Edo state Nigeria

ABSTRACT The application of metacarbonate rocks depend majorly on their physical and/or chemical properties. The mineralogical and chemical properties of the metacarbonate rocks from Enwan, Bekuma, and Ekpedo metacarbonate deposits in Akoko Edo, Nigeria were determined using combined modal petrographic analysis and XRS-FP quantitative analysis. The modal analyses show that the metacarbonate rocks from Enwan, Ekpedo and Bekuma contain averages of 96.4%, 58.5%, and 77.35% CaCO3 respectively and 3.6%, 41.5% and 13.1% MgO respectively. The mineralogical constituent include calcite, dolomite, quartz, plagioclase and muscovite. The principal constituents of the carbonate rocks are calcite and dolomite with calcite being the dominant mineral. The marbles can be used in a variety of calcium carbonate industries due to the low quartz content and the mineralogical composition. These characteristics make the metacarbonate rocks suitable for the production of paint, factory lime, pesticide and animal feed, as construction material and for use in the chemical industry.