*Photo: Dele Alake*
Solid Minerals Development Minister Dele Alake has warned illegal miners to stop committing suicide by extracting minerals from abandoned pits without licences, and has called on investors to partner with the government to repurpose such sites for profitable projects.
Reacting to the collapse of an abandoned tin mine pit on an unlicensed site in Kassa, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State that killed seven persons, the Minister said the tragic loss could have been avoided had the illegal miners formed a co-operative and applied for a permit.
Alake said the permit would have qualified them to benefit from the ministry’s artisanal mining department’s field training and ensured a steady stream of income.
Calling on artisanal miners nationwide to learn a grave lesson from the collective grief that the sad incident has inflicted on the nation, the minister commiserated with the government and people of Plateau State on the sad incident and prayed for the repose of the dead.
” 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,
noting that there are over 4,000 mine pits dug by the mining conglomerate Amalgamated Tin Mines Limited and its successor companies-
Consolidated Tin Mines Limited and Nigerian Tin and Allied Products Limited.
He said the government welcomes investors interested in re-purposing these pits for energy, tourism and fishery projects.
Alake said collaborating with the private sector is the most proactive and fastest approach to turning dead assets into productive use, noting that the Ministry has rehabilitated 59 abandoned pits so far.
In a bid to de-risk investment, Alake said the Ministry has 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 to locate, characterise accurately, and design workflows to reclaim the thousands of legacy tin pits.
He advised 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 ensure that abandoned pits do not occur again, Alake said he has pioneered the establishment of the Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation Fund by activating what had been a mere constitutional provision.
His words: “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.”