By Mary Izuaka

 

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has warned illegal miners to stop committing suicide by extracting minerals from abandoned pits without licences.

The warning followed the collapse of an abandoned tin mine pit on an unlicensed site in Kassa, Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of Plateau State, which killed seven persons.

In a statement on Sunday signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Lara Owoeye-Wise, Mr Alake said the incident could have been avoided if the miners had formed a cooperative and obtained a permit from the ministry.

Mr 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.

The minister commiserated with the government and people of Plateau State and prayed for the repose of the dead. He urged artisanal miners nationwide to “learn a grave lesson from the collective grief that the sad incident has inflicted on the nation.”

Turn pits of death into prosperity

The minister called on investors to partner with the government to convert abandoned excavations into economic assets.

“The challenge before the state and the federal government is how to turn these potential pits of death into centres of joyful prosperity,” Mr Alake said.

He noted 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 repurposing these pits for energy, tourism and fishery projects.

Mr Alake said that collaborating with the private sector is the most proactive and fastest approach to putting dead assets to productive use, noting that the Ministry has­ rehabilitated 59 abandoned pits so far.

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In a bid to de-risk investment, the minister 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.

He said Plateau State will serve as the pilot beneficiary to accurately locate, characterise, 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, Mr Alake said he has pioneered the establishment of the Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation Fund by activating what had been a mere constitutional provision.

“Very soon, we shall conclude discussions with the fund managers. Henceforth, 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.