Alake directs illegal mineral miners to join cooperatives to ensure proper monitoring
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Solid Minerals Development Minister Dele Alake has given illegal miners a 30-day deadline to join a miners’ cooperative or face prosecution.
He handed down the ultimatum in Abuja at the unveiling of the “Agenda for the Transformation of the Solid Minerals for International Competitiveness and Domestic Prosperity”.
He also disclosed illegal miners will be arrested from October by Mines Police who will be part of a Security Task Force the ministry will introduce to combat illegal mining and smuggling nationwide.
“For the last time, let me declare that the ministry is giving such persons 30 days’ grace to join a miners’ co-operative or find another vocation to do,” Alake said.
“On the expiration of the period, the full weight of the law will fall on anyone seen on a mining site without a determinable status. This message will be interpreted into Nigerian languages and broadcast on the radio to ensure no one is ignorant of this directive.
“From October, a rejuvenated security regime will become active in the solid minerals sector. This will include the Mines Police, sourced from the Nigeria Police and specially trained to detect illegal mining and apprehend offenders.
“The new Mines Surveillance Security Task Force will coordinate the Mines Police and proactively address high risk incidences of breach of Mining Laws.
“The federal and state governments will also be encouraged to allocate the prosecution of cases against illegal miners to competent courts.”
Alake also disclosed plans to establish a Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation (NSMC) which, among other matters, will focus on:
- Joint Ventures with mining multinationals, Big Data on seven priority minerals and their deposits, 30-day grace for illegal miners to join artisanal cooperatives, Mines Surveillance Task Force and Mine Police, comprehensive review of all mining licences and the creation of six Mineral Processing Centres to focus on value-added products.
- Subsidiaries doing business in the seven priority areas that require immediate intervention and focus on gold, coal, limestone, bitumen, lead, iron ore, and baryte, among others.
- Reviewing existing enterprises, such as the National Iron Ore Company; and ongoing arrangements, such as the Bitumen Concessioning Programme, to fit into this new system.
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Resetting the economy
“President Bola Tinubu has taken firm, courageous decisions that have reset the logic of the Nigerian economy,” Alake added, per Vanguard reporting.
“The removal of [fuel] subsidy and the adoption of a single exchange rate are among the fundamental transformational policies of this administration. This radical approach to making the economy resilient in the long term is the guiding principle of the management of the ministry.
“The ministry has to take the bull by the horns if the country must reap the harvest of the trillion dollars worth of minerals under the ground across the country.
“To achieve this laudable objective, there has to be a paradigm shift in the strategy by re-positioning the sector in terms of the human and capital factors that can drive its transformation.
“Mining is big business. Nigeria must assert its presence in this environment by replicating its strategic positioning in the petroleum sector by setting up a corporate body that plays in this field.
“Consequently, the ministry shall work towards the incorporation of the Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation.
“The proposed corporation will seek and secure partnership investment agreements with big multinational companies worldwide to leverage on the attractive investment-friendly regime operating in the country to secure massive foreign direct investment [FDI] for the mining sector.
“The positioning of the national corporation as a guarantor and protector of the partnership agreements is expected to assure partners of our seriousness and fidelity.
“Similarly, the Solid Minerals Corporation will provide robust support for Nigerian businessmen seeking funding abroad and help to authenticate their investment proposals to speed up the commitment of their partners to invest.
“Domestically, the Solid Minerals Corporation will engage the Nigerian financial system, which has demonstrated palpable reluctance to support mineral prospecting and mining because of the long-term gestation of value generation, by developing a Fund to facilitate investments in mining at interest rates that will be mutually agreed.”
The mining sector has over two million operators, 633 small scale companies, and 251, 500 registered miners.
Estimated solid mineral deposits in the country include:
- Gold – one million ounces
- Limestone – 568 metric tonnes
- Lead/zinc, baryte – 15 million metric tonnes
- Bitumen –1.1 billion barrels
- Iron ore – three billion metric tonnes
- Coal – N396 million
