FG to void over 1,500 unused licenses

Following the indication that the list of the affected mining sites and owners will be made public by the Ministry of

Reports shows that during a press meeting in December 2015, owners of dormant licenses were given the grace till March 1, 2016 and so far many licenses still haven’t been registered.

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According to , Kayode Fayemi, Minister of solid mineral development said a situation where four of every five mining licenses issued in the country remained unused was no longer acceptable.

Fayemi explained that the Ministry would not tolerate or accept operators who failed to use their licenses for the purpose they were issued. He said that such license would be revoked and given to investors.

He capitalized on the importance of sanitizing and reorganizing the sector so as to identify its potentials. He added that most of the land areas that were allocated as mining sites to miners had been acquired illegally.

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“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,” he said.

“You can obtain your license either as an individual or as a cooperative. The ministry officials will help you and ensure you get your licenses to operate within the confines of laid down laws.

“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.”

Fayemi pointed out that the Federal Inland Revenue Services doesn’t have records of gold being mined in various sites in the country.