A news analysis by Francisca Oluyole of Organised mining began in Nigeria in 1902, when the Mineral Survey of the Northern Protectorate was created by the British colonial government. A year later, the Mineral Survey of the Southern Protectorates was founded and by 1940s, Nigeria was a major producer of tin, columbite and coal. The discovery of oil in 1956 affected the mineral extraction industries, as the government and industry both began to focus on this new resource. The Nigerian Civil War in the late 1960s made many mining expatriates to leave the country and that affected the mining industry. In a bid to unlock the economic potential of the solid minerals, the Federal Government in 1985 created the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development to spur the rapid and beneficial development of the country’s solid mineral resources.