FG revokes 924 dormant mining licences

In furtherance of efforts to sanitize the mining sector, the federal government has revoked 924 dormant licences spanning exploration, mining, small-scale mining, and quarrying Licenses, six months after revoking 1,663 licences.

The revocation licences include 528 exploration licenses; 20 mining licences; 101 quarry licenses, and 273 Small Scale Mining Licenses (SSML).

Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, disclosed this in Abuja, at a press briefing.

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Alake declared that in line with constitutional provisions, adequate notice was given to all concerned parties through the official Gazette of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, No. 227, which was published on December 27, 2023.

The federal government through the mining Cadastral office in November last year revoked 1,663 licences due to failure to pay statutory charges, fees, and dues to the government when he warned licencees who are yet to resume work on their mining projects to do so.

Alake explained that the revocation is not meant to be punitive, and the affected licensees have an opportunity to make restitution by paying fines within 30 days to qualify for consideration.

“The fines are set at ₦10 million for revoked Mining Licenses, ₦7.5 million for Small Scale Mining Licenses (SSML), and ₦5 million for Exploration Licenses (EL),” Alake said.

“The notice gave all concerned parties 30 days to regularize their status, including clarifications on what caused the license to be dormant.

“Thus, although a total of 963 licensees were published and notified of the threat of revocation, no fewer than 39 either moved to site immediately or convinced the authorities of the challenges hindering their operations.”

He said that the action followed due process and fair consideration whilst it underscores the commitment of the Federal Government to implement the standard policy of “Use it or Lose it” as enshrined in mining guidelines.

“Investors across the globe are now free to apply for any of the affected Cadastral Units on the basis of “first come, first served,” Alake added.

“It is our belief that this decision will sanitize the licensing system by penalizing those who have commercialized the opportunities offered by the sector into a bazaar.

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“There are many negative consequences. First, serious businessmen ready to move to sites are barred from making use of such sites because the concept of first come, first service means that the place has been acquired. The country loses a lot of foreign direct investment on account of this sabotage.

“By creating a secondary, black market to pawn mineral licences, the unsuspecting and unwary investor is misled into believing that he can only obtain licences by patronizing the black market. This give our country a bad image abroad and discourages investment.

“From feedback, the amount at which these licences are sold are so huge compared to their cost such that the funds which they could have used to initiate serious explanation or mining are spent on speculations.

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“Clearly, Nigeria’s mining sector cannot continue to suffer low investment on account of the nefarious activities of persons who buy licences of promising mine sites to sell. It therefore became imperative to revoke dormant licences.”

The Minister noted that it is an opportunity for affected licensees to make restitution, imposing fines for different categories of revoked licenses.

He stressed that it also applies to the 1,633 titles revoked six months ago for default in payment of annual service fees.