Niger State is one of the states in the North-Central region of the country, endowed with amazing solid mineral resources that have great potentials to turn the economy of the state and favourably compete with oil producing states in the South-south region.

Illegal miners display their haul

The rich commercial deposits of various types of industrial minerals of high quality are also available in the State, and can be used both for domestic and export markets. Therefore, making the State a potential hub for investors as a lot of investment opportunities in the solid minerals sector exist in the State.

The State is blessed with Gold, Talc, Kyanite, Kaolin, Ball clays, Graphite, Feldspar, Marble & Dolomite, Manganese; Mica, Lead & Copper, Quartzite, Asbestos, Iron, Silica sand, Granite, Gemstones (varieties).

The State government according to sources was making frantic effort to harness these solid mineral resources through a public private partnership agreement, and the federal government was also wooing investors into the State to tap these resources lying fallow for decades.

The worrisome trend right now in the State is the challenge of illegal mining by some people within the State and others from different parts of the country including foreigners believed to be sponsored by money-bags who were into the illicit trade.

Gold is one of the most precious stones that have been illegally mined by these economic saboteurs, and they were making brisk business and profit out of the trade as some merchants do patronise them.

Recently, the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development, MMSD, discovered a haven of illegal gold miners in Mailumba- Garin Gabas, Rafi Local Government of the State.
The illegal miners were discovered by a Special Ministerial Taskforce Team led by Engr. Frank Odoom of the Department of Mines Inspectorate in the ministry.

The illegal mining site had been a beehive of social and economic activities as over 1, 000 artisanal miners were neck deep in the business.

The young men in this site had dug over 50 pits in search of the precious stone, and told the team of the Special Ministerial Taskforce of Ministry Mines and Steel Development that they had to engage in the trade after the farming season, and also to make ends meet.

One of the illegal miners who had been in the ‘business’ for over 20 years, Mr. Mohammed Sani, who spoke in Hausa language said he had been engaged in the business from his youth and had made substantial amount of money as he was able to feed his family and take care of others.

Sani said they were not ready to go into robbery, but decided to engage themselves with the dangerous business for survival.

The miners were using crude implements, which include mattocks, diggers, head-pans, mortars, pestles and others, for the exploitation of gold deposits at the site, and they were confident to state that the site had large deposits of Gold.

He further revealed that Nigeriens come to the Mailumba-Garin Gabas mining site for the illegal exploitation of the precious stone. He revealed that there was a black market, which served as a point of contact between them and smugglers of the commodity to any part of the world.

He also said the level of refining of the Gold at the site produces quality 19 carats, but it was not really ascertained on the claim of the quality, which a gram was sold for N5, 000 on daily basis. They also carry out trade by barter for chemicals, particularly Mercury chemical needed for processing of gold.

One of the miners, Mr. Haruna Dankano , who demonstrated the processing of mined Gold and it was discovered that they had already endangered their health after a long period of engaging in the trade, because they used the dry method of processing the Gold with the aid of Mercury chemical.

Others who could be possibly affected, include those who sell goods and services to them at the site, the hamlets around the environment, and the animals living in the area.

Mr. Odoom raised an alarm that this was exactly the process the Zamfara miners were doing before the eventual outbreak of lead poisoning in the area. He said

Mercury was a dangerous and harmful chemical to human and animal health.
Odoom said: “These are illegal gold miners, who are doing the wrong thing as you can see, and are contravening the Minerals and Mining Act of 2007 and Mining Regulations 2011.

“It is a success story of the Department of Mines Inspectorate. We are here to sensitise them about the hazards they are posing to the environment and to their own health. And to let them know that it was criminal to carry out such activity.

“They are to stop mining immediately until they form a co-operative and are registered with the Department of Artisanal and Small-scale Miners. Security officials will be drafted to effect the closure.

“We cannot allow them to continue because we do not want the re-occurrence of what happened in Zamfara State here. The method of processing the gold is very crude, as they are using the dry processing method, which was the same with the Zamfara illegal miners that caused the death of many people.”

One of the team members, Engr. Gabriel Yakubu, told the miners whose age ranged between 17-40 years, about the use of Mercury for processing coupled with the dry processing method could cause cancer and other terminal ailments, and advised them to stop the operation.

The Mines Inspectorate Department disclosed that there were over 30 illegal mining sites scattered across Niger State. And it has become a serious concern as the illicit business was growing unabatedly, and was booming seriously as sponsors of the nefarious act supports and sustains the business.

According to the Mines Inspectorate Department, these merchants of death had also silent the local chiefs whose communities were put on ‘death-row’ with huge sums of money for the deadly operation to go on uninterruptedly, and the chiefs had always claimed ignorance about such activities in their domain.

From the discoveries of illegal mine sites in Niger State people, especially rural dwellers, majority of them were sitting on a keg of gun-powder that could consume thousands of lives, following the serious degradation of the environment caused by these desperate money seekers, in the guise of being hardworking and self-reliant.

It is high time Niger State and federal government to frontally and pragmatically address this growing malady and invasion on the common wealth of Nigerians by some elements at the expense of the health of the people and the environment, including revenue generation.

Already the State is under siege by illegal miners who migrate in large numbers to different parts of the state to ply their criminal trade, and this could be disastrous for the people, particularly communities around those illegal mining sites.