FG to publish list of dormant mining licences ahead of revocation

Ahead of the March 1, deadline for the enforcement of the “Use it or lose it” clause in the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007, the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development has concluded arrangements to publish the list of owners of the dormant mining licences.
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, who disclosed plans by the ministry to revoke all dormant mining licences this week, said a situation where four of every five mining licences issued in the country remained unused is no longer acceptable.
Fayemi stated this in Minna, Niger State capital, during a one- day working visit to mining sites in the state on Monday.

He said the administration would no longer accept operators who kept their licences from the purpose for which they were issued, adding that such licences would be revoked and issued to genuine mining investors who are ready to make use of them.
He noted that most of the land that were allocated as mining sites to miners had been acquired illegally. He added that it was important to sanitise and reorganise the sector in order to realise the sector’s full potentials as a major revenue earner.

Addressing informal and artisanal miners in Kurukpa, in Chachangi Local government area of the state, Fayemi said the ministry would begin the formalisation of illegal miners into a structure to enable them earn their livelihood in a safe environment and according to the world standard.
He said the ministry is willing to assist them form cooperative societies and secure mining licences as groups or individuals.
Fayemi said: “We are not here to criminalise you but to let you know that illegal mining is dangerous to health and the environment. We are ready to give you all necessary support to ensure that you carry out your mining activities in the proper manner.
“You can obtain your licence either as an individual or as a cooperative. The ministry officials will help you and ensure you get your licences to operate within the confines of laid down laws.”
The Minister promised that the Federal Government would devise means of assisting them with necessary equipment and financial support among others.
“After this we shall clamp down on those doing illegal mining. We are not going to allow illegal mining to continue. We will bring it to an end.”
The Minister said that gold which is a vital mineral, is not on the record of the Federal Inland Revenue Services and is being mined in the site and several other sites in the country.

He said: “`This simply means gold is being smuggled out of the country to other countries without tax, record and revenue to show on a daily basis from the minerals that we are endowed with. This will no longer be acceptable.”

Niger State Commissioner for Environment, Dr Aliyu Taguwagi, who accompanied the Minister on the visit, expressed the state’s support for the Federal Government’s plan to revoke non-functional mining titles.

Taguwagi said such titles should be re-issued to serious mining investors.
He appreciated the ministers’ plans to legalise the activities of illegal miners in the state.

The Minister who later paid a courtesy visit to the Niger State Governor, Alhaji Abubakra Sani Bello at the Government House, Minna, reiterated the inevitability of a collaboration between the Federal Government and the states in order to realise government’s plan to diversify the economy and create jobs through the solid minerals sector.
“If mining is to produce the right result, the states must be involved. So, we need to strike a balance between the owner of the land and owner of the mineral resources underneath the land,” he said.
The Emir of Minna, Alhaji Farouk Bahago, who received the minister and the ministry’s Minister of State, Hon Abubakar Bwari in his palace, expressed appreciation of their plans to formalise activities of illegal and informal miners in the state.

Emir Bahago urged the minister to assist the people with loans and standard equipment to perform their mining activities.