FG Revokes 1,633 Mining Licences, Reads Riot Act to Illegal Miners
The federal government announced the revocation of 1,633 mining licenses due to default in payment of stipulated service fees by operators.
The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake made the announcement while addressing the press in his office in Abuja.
He stated that the revocation became imperative following the expiration of a 30-day notice to defaulters, as stipulated in sections 11 and 12 of the Nigerian Mineral Mining Act (NMMA), 2007.
In compliance with the law, the Mining Cadastral Office (MCO) on October 4, 2023 began the process of revoking 2,213 titles. These included 795 exploration titles, 956 Small Scale Mining Licences, 364 Quarry licences, and 98 Mining Leases.
These were published in the federal government gazette number 178, volume 110 of October 10, 2023 with the notice of revocation for defaulting in, the payment of annual service fee.
The mandatory 30 days expired on November 10, 2023. Only 580 title holders responded by settling their indebtedness. With this development, the MCO recommended the revocation of 1,633 mineral titles as follows: Exploration, Licences, 536; Quarry Licences, 279; Scale Mining Licences, 787 and Mining Leases, 31.
The minister further stated that efforts were ongoing for titleholder operators defaulting in payment of royalties, taxes and others, emphasising that revocation of operators short-changing government was an ongoing process which he noted will create space for serious prospective investors to come on stream.
