Libya: the last frontier for mineral exploration

Libya remains unexplored and is arguably the last frontier for mineral exploration.

By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica and editor of the WhyAfrica magazine.         

The recent agreement between Türkiye and Libya to deepen cooperation in mining, energy and infrastructure is an indication of the significant long-term potential of this North African country if peace and stability returns,

The deal, signed by Türkiye’s Foreign Economic Relations Board, Libya’s Emaar Holding, and several other bodies, aims to boost bilateral trade across all three sectors, especially in Libya’s resource-rich eastern and southern regions.

Under the agreement’s terms, Turkish firms will fund the development of recently discovered mineral reserves in southern Libya.

Limited exploration but great potential  

Libya’s mining sector is small and undeveloped and most mining activity is limited to construction materials like limestone, gypsum and sand.

However, it is known that the Wadi ash Shati Ore Basin in the south of the country holds the potential to develop a large-scale iron ore industry.

Because Libya has focussed mostly on oil and gas exploration (which accounts for 95% of export reserves, it has done limited mineral geological surveying and mapping.

In terms of mineral exploration Libya is literally the last frontier. The country is a huge greenfield exploration zone for solid minerals where the lack of modern geological surveys is a major barrier to investment, as reserve estimates and mineral prospectivity maps are not available.

Opportunities for first movers  

However, this also presents great opportunities as a first-mover investor or national initiative could unlock major potential with modern survey methods.

Surveys were done in Libya between 1950 and the mid 1980s mostly by geological missions from the old Soviet Union, Germany and Italy. Although the data quality was good at the time, it lacks the precision of today’s modern methods. These surveys were focussed mostly on basic geological mapping, regional stratigraphy and identifying surface-level mineral occurrences in for example Wadi ash Shati, Jabal Nafusa and in the Kufrah Basin (source: IRC)

According to Libya’s Industrial Research Centre (IRC), a Tripoli-based government research institution operating under the Ministry of Industry and Minerals, Libya does have geological maps for most of the country and some remote sensing and satellite imagery have been used for broad-scale mineral targeting.

However, no recent national-scale magnetic, radiometric or gravity surveys have been done, there is no unified national geoscience database and limited drilling or core sampling has been done (iron ore being the exception).

For Türkiye, Libya offers an economic opportunity and a strategic gateway to Africa as the country rapidly expands its footprint across the continent.

Remember, WhyAfrica tracks early-stage exploration projects across Africa. Become a WhyAfrica member and discover Africa’s greenfields with us.

Image credit: Ahmed Almakhzanji from Unsplash

Libya: the last frontier for mineral exploration