Monitoring Natural Resources using Remote Sensing Techniques: Current Situation in Kaduna and Katsina States Nigeria

Mineral explorations and applications generally in the world are labor intensive, except if they are highly automated. Around the turn of the century, In the developed nations for instance, Robots perform duties in all stages of detections and productions. In the less developed states like Nigeria where technology is very low the duty is unbearable and cumbersome, and therefore little exploitations are made. The study of mineral deposits in Nigeria show that 90% of the country’s natural resources are unexploited, yet many are still uncovered and decomposed. This study demonstrated an integrated applicability of three geospatial technologies(Remote Sensing, GIS and GPS) in mapping mineral resources of parts of Kaduna and Katsina states of Nigeria. Nigeria Sat-1 satellite data covering the study area was obtained and digitally analyzed using Arc view GIS software. Garmin II GPS receiver was used to identify ground locations from where data was collected for the purpose of geometric corrections, supervised classifications and establishing quantitative relationships between spectral signatures and ground features that are indicators of presence or absence of mineral deposits.