FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WITHDRAWS OVER NINE HUNDRED DORMANT MINERAL LICENSES.

The Federal Government has revoked an additional 924 dormant mineral licenses with immediate effect.

The Minister of Solid Minerals DevelopmentDELE ALAKE who announced this during a press briefing in Abuja yesterday said the revoked mineral licenses include 528 exploration licenses, 20 mining leases, 101 quarry licenses, and 273 small-scale mining licenses.

Speaking during the briefing, ALAKE lamented the high rate of license racketeering, as well as dormant mineral licenses, which he assured of the ministry’s unrelenting effort to get into the root cause and correct the lapses.

He added that the ministry had formulated a policy that includes the payment of fines to enable those whose licenses have been revoked and are interested in reinstating such licensesback into the system.

For mining license reinstatement, the minister fixed the fine for large-scale companies at 10 million Naira while small-scale mining licenses were put at 7.5 million Naira and exploration licenses at five million Naira.