The mineralization of copper is restricted to a few areas in western, central and southern Africa, and some have the richest deposits of copper in the world. In the west, copper has only been found in the arid regions of the Sahel and southern Sahara. The main sources of copper are:
# Akjoujt in Mauritania
# Nioro du Sahel to Sirakoro in Northern Mali
# The Aïr Massif near Azelik and Agadez in Niger
There are not any known mines in tropical West Africa, however copper and lead workings have been in the Benue Trough in southeastern Nigeria. With the exception of a few areas near Kilembe in Uganda and Rwanda, there are no sources of copper in East Africa. The largest concentration of copper found in Africa is the Lufilian Arc. It is an eight hundred kilometer crescent shaped belt, which extends from the Copperbelt in Zambia to the southern Shaba Province in Congo.