- The incident occurred on Thursday around 10 am
The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development, has vowed to revoke the titles of licensed land units being exploited by illegal miners.
The ministry made this announcement in its first response to a recent mine collapse in Niger State, which claimed three lives.
The incident occurred on Thursday around 10 am, just two weeks after a mine in Shiroro, Niger State, collapsed, resulting in over 50 miners being trapped.
In a statement signed on Saturday by the Minister’s Special Assistant on Media, Segun Tomori, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, revealed that preliminary investigations indicated the collapsed mine was located within the area covered by Exploration Licence 43113 of Jurassic Mines Limited in Adunu Village, Paikoro Local Government Area, Niger State.
He said, “Owners of licenced units of land mined by illegal miners will lose their titles.”
He explained that an exploration licence is given to an applicant to confirm if the site is suitable for the proposed mineral exploration. It does not authorise the applicant to engage in mining.
Reviewing the role of the Ministry in response to the event, Alake noted that the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development received reports of the accident at about 4.45 pm on Thursday which indicated that three people had died when a tunnel collapsed on them while mining gold in the site.
He said further inquiry revealed that the miners were mining illegally.