The minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has warned illegal miners against extracting minerals from abandoned pits without licences, following the death of seven persons in the collapse of an abandoned tin mine pit in Kassa, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State.
Alake, who described the incident as a tragic loss that could have been avoided, said the illegal miners could have formed a cooperative and applied for a permit, which would have qualified them to benefit from field training by the ministry’s artisanal mining department and ensured a steady stream of income.
Reacting to the incident in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media, Lara Owoeye-Wise, yesterday, the minister commiserated with the government and people of Plateau State and prayed for the repose of the deceased.
He urged artisanal miners nationwide to learn a grave lesson from the incident, stressing the need to prevent abandoned mine pits from becoming centres of death.
“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.
According to him, there are over 4,000 mine pits dug by Amalgamated Tin Mines Limited and its successor companies, Consolidated Tin Mines Limited and Nigerian Tin and Allied Products Limited.
He said the government welcomed investors interested in repurposing the abandoned pits for energy, tourism and fishery projects.
Alake said collaboration with the private sector remained the most proactive and fastest approach to turning dead assets into productive use, adding that the ministry had rehabilitated 59 abandoned pits so far.
He disclosed that the ministry had embarked on a strategic initiative to deploy advanced GIS satellite mapping and Artificial Intelligence through a public-private partnership with ImPPPact Nigeria Alliance, alongside geomatics specialist Intomatics, using Plateau State as the pilot beneficiary.
He said the initiative would help locate and accurately characterise the legacy tin pits and design workflows to reclaim the thousands of sites.
The minister advised investors to direct enquiries to the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office and the ministry’s Mines and Environmental Compliance Department, and apply to the Solid Minerals Development Fund’s funding programme.
To prevent the recurrence of abandoned pits, Alake said he had pioneered the establishment of the Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation Fund by activating what had been 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 said.
