Nigeria’s Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has warned illegal miners against operating in abandoned pits without licences following a deadly collapse in Plateau State. Seven artisanal miners died on Wednesday evening when a disused tin mine pit caved in at Kassa community in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area.
The warning came in a statement issued Sunday in Abuja by the minister’s Special Assistant on Media, Lara-Owoeye-Wise. Alake said the tragedy could have been avoided if the miners had formed a cooperative and secured the necessary permits. Legal registration would have granted them access to field training through the ministry’s Artisanal Mining Department and provided a regulated income stream.
The minister commiserated with the government and people of Plateau, urging artisanal miners nationwide to learn from the incident. “The challenge before the state and the Federal Government is how to turn these potential pits of death into centres of joyful prosperity,” he said.
Alake disclosed that more than 4,000 mine pits were excavated by Amalgamated Tin Mines Ltd. and its successor companies, Consolidated Tin Mines Ltd. and Nigerian Tin and Allied Products Ltd. He called on investors to partner with the government to repurpose the abandoned sites for energy, Tourism and fishery projects, describing private-sector collaboration as the fastest route to transforming derelict mining areas into productive assets.
The ministry has so far rehabilitated 59 abandoned pits. To de-risk investment, it has launched an initiative deploying advanced Geographic Information System satellite mapping and Artificial Intelligence to identify and characterise legacy tin pits. The project, implemented through a public-private partnership with ImPPPact Nigeria Alliance and geomatics specialist Intomatics, has adopted Plateau as its pilot state. It aims to design workflows for reclaiming thousands of legacy pits across the region.
Prospective investors have been directed to the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office and the ministry’s Mines and Environmental Compliance Department. Alake also encouraged applications to the Solid Minerals Development Fund’s financing programme.
To prevent future abandonment, the minister said he pioneered the Environmental Protection and Rehabilitation Fund. The mechanism will require mining companies to contribute funds that can be used to rehabilitate pits where operators fail to do so after closure. “Very soon, we shall conclude discussions with the fund managers. Thenceforth, mining companies must pay to the fund so that it can rehabilitate mine pits if the companies do not do so during closure,” Alake said.
