The Federal Government has revoked 924 dormant mining licences and asked potential investors to freely apply for the affected licences, which will be offered on a “first come, first served” basis.
The Minister of Mines, Dele Alake, who made this disclosure in a statement issued on Wednesday, listed the revoked mining licences as including 528 exploration licences, 20 mining leases, 101 quarry licences, and 273 small-scale mining licences.
The latest policy measure came barely five months the government revoked more than 1,600 mining titles for non-payment of statutory fees as part of reforms in the sector.
Alake maintained the action was taken to curb “licence racketeering” where companies or individuals secure titles that held minerals of commercial value and then offered the licences to the highest bidder.
He stated: “By creating a secondary, black market to pawn mineral licences, the unsuspecting and unwary investor is misled into believing that he can only obtain licence by patronising the black market. This discourages investment
“It is our belief that this decision will sanitize the licensing system by penalising those who have commercialized the opportunities offered by the sector into a bazaar”, the minister added.
Recently, the Federal Government has been encouraging investors to take advantage of the fiscal incentives it is offering to such as tax waivers and full repatriation of profits to investors to explore the opportunities in the mining sector.
