Cyril Mbah, Abuja
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, has warned illegal miners to desist from extracting minerals from abandoned pits without licences, describing such illegal mining as act as suicidal.
He gave the warning while reacting to the collapse of an abandoned tin mine pit on an unlicensed site in Kassa, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State, which claimed seven lives.
Alake said the tragedy could have been avoided if the illegal miners had formed a cooperative and applied for a permit for proper mining activity.
According to him, such a permit would have qualified them for field training by the ministry’s artisanal mining department and provided them with a steady source of income.
The Minister commiserated with the government and people of Plateau State over the incident and prayed for the repose of the dead. He urged artisanal miners nationwide to learn a “grave lesson” from the grief the incident has caused the nation.
“The challenge before the state and the Federal Government is how to turn these potential pits of death into centres of joyful prosperity,” Alake said.
He disclosed that there are over 4,000 abandoned mine pits in Plateau State, dug several years ago by the Amalgamated Tin Mines Limited and its successor companies, Consolidated Tin Mines Limited and Nigerian Tin and Allied Products Limited.
To address the challenge, the Minister called on investors to partner with the government to repurpose and reactivate the abandoned pits for energy, tourism and fishery projects.
He said collaborating with the private sector is the fastest way to turn dead assets into productive use.
Alake noted that the ministry has already rehabilitated 59 abandoned pits. To de-risk investment, he said the ministry is deploying advanced GIS satellite mapping and Artificial Intelligence through a public-private partnership with ImPPPact Nigeria Alliance and geomatics specialist Intomatics, using Plateau State as the pilot phase.
He advised interested investors to direct enquiries to the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office and the Ministry’s Mines and Environmental Compliance Department, and to apply to the Solid Minerals Development Fund’s funding programme.
To prevent future abandoned pits from collapsing, Alake said he has pioneered the establishment of the Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation Fund by activating a constitutional provision.
“Very soon, we shall conclude discussions with the fund managers. Thenceforth, mining companies must pay to the Fund so that it can rehabilitate mine pits if the companies don’t do so during closure,” he stated.
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