Nigeria’s drive to turn solid minerals into a pillar of economic diversification could backfire if the country fails to conserve its most strategic deposits, exploration geophysicists have warned.

At an international conference of the Nigerian Association of Exploration Geophysicists in Abuja, experts cautioned that without a deliberate conservation policy, Nigeria might one day be forced to import minerals it currently exports in raw and semi-processed form.

The warning came as the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, outlined government efforts to strengthen geoscientific data, expand exploration and build professional capacity to attract serious investors into the sector.

Represented by Nigerian Geological Survey Agency director Hadiza Godi, Alake described geophysics as the “master key” to unlocking underground wealth, protecting ecosystems and securing the foundations of national infrastructure. He said reliable geological and geophysical information now sits at the core of mining reforms, reducing investor risk and guiding policy.

Through the NGSA, the ministry has intensified geological mapping and high-resolution airborne geophysical surveys, leading to the identification of significant deposits of minerals critical to the global energy transition. These include lithium, graphite, copper, manganese and rare earth elements, alongside iron, lead, zinc and aluminium.

While welcoming the government’s insistence on local value addition before export, NAEG president Akin George argued that processing alone should not define success. He stressed that minerals are finite and non-renewable, and that Nigeria must decide which deposits to mine now, which to reserve for domestic industry and which to preserve as strategic national stock.

George urged the government to adopt a formal conservation policy for high-grade and sensitive minerals. He highlighted lithium and chromite, as well as uranium, platinum and bauxite, as resources that should be carefully managed where commercially viable deposits exist.

Other speakers from industry and academia backed stronger collaboration among professional bodies, better archiving of exploration data and continuous training to keep pace with rapid advances in geophysical techniques, artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The conference also underscored the role of geophysics in groundwater assessment, environmental management and infrastructure planning, positioning the discipline as central to both economic growth and long-term resource security.