Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has warned illegal miners against extracting minerals from abandoned pits without licences.
Reacting to the collapse of an abandoned tin mine pit at Kassa in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State in northern Nigeria, Alake said that the tragedy could have been avoided if the illegal miners had formed a cooperative and applied for the necessary permit.
He said that obtaining the permit would have enabled them to benefit from field training by the ministry’s Artisanal Mining Department and secure a steady stream of income.
According to the statement issued by the minister’s Special Assistant on Media, Lara-Owoeye-Wise on Sunday in Abuja, the ministry, in a move to de-risk investment in the sector, has also inaugurated an initiative deploying advanced Geographic Information System satellite mapping and Artificial Intelligence.
He said that this would help to identify and characterise legacy tin pits.
The initiative, he noted, is being implemented through a public-private partnership with ImPPPact Nigeria Alliance and geomatics specialist, Intomatics, adopting Plateau as the pilot state.
Alake said that the initiative would support the design and development of workflows for reclaiming the thousands of legacy tin pits across the state.
He advised prospective investors to direct enquiries to the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office and the ministry’s Mines and Environmental Compliance Department.
He also encouraged investors to apply to the Solid Minerals Development Fund’s funding programme.
The statement disclosed that Alake had pioneered the establishment of the Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation Fund in order to prevent the recurrence of abandoned mine pits,
It added that the initiative was aimed at ensuring that mining companies contributed funds that could be used to rehabilitate pits where operators failed to do so after mine closure.
“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 do not do so during closure,” he said.
According to local media reports, seven miners died on Wednesday after a mining pit collapsed on them at a mining site in Kassa community, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State.
The reports added that Alake commiserated with the Government and people of Plateau over the incident, urging artisanal miners nationwide to learn from the tragedy.
GIK/APA