Miners dread clampdown, trudge out of Zamfara sites

Miners have started vacating mining fields in Zamfara State following the federal government’s order to vacate gold mines in the state, findings by Daily Trust have shown. Residents of Sunke community of  Anka Local Government Area said miners started vacating one of the largest mining sites in the state situated in the area as soon […]

Miners have started vacating mining fields in Zamfara State following the federal government’s order to vacate gold mines in the state, findings by Daily Trust have shown.

Residents of Sunke community of  Anka Local Government Area said miners started vacating one of the largest mining sites in the state situated in the area as soon as the order came.

“I did not  find any one when I went there  this morning. I only saw some equipment and other working tools but the personnel have deserted the place,” a resident, Sani Habibu, said.

The mining site in Maru Local Government Area has become a shadow of its former self since the government order was announced, as the miners scrambled out, Daily Trust gathered.

A source close to the owner of the site told our correspondent that the miners were instructed to vacate the site by the owner out of fear that security operatives could soon invade the site and confiscate their equipment.

According to a resident, Murtala Kawaye, more than 10  mining sites had existed in villages in Anka Local Government, namely; Sunke, Kawaye, Mai Galma, Bagega, Dadin Kowa, Duhuwa, Duza and Tungar Daji.

“Among all the mining fields, the most prominent, most populated and busiest ones are those in Sunke, Kawaye, Duza and Mai Galma. And they are the main targets of armed bandits,” he added.

He said residents of such areas were making a lot of money from the mining activities before the government order.

“I know many miners who paid for hajj and bought cars with proceeds from the mining business. All these sites I have mentioned are now empty, the miners are now avoiding the sites for fear of possible clamp down. However, a few have managed to continue digging for gold despite the instruction,” a resident added.

Some miners who spoke to our correspondent narrated how suspected armed bandits raided a goldmine at Duza village in Anka Local Government Area.

“I was dozing off after I worked for the whole day digging for gold in an underground tunnel. Somebody stepped on my leg, perhaps the person was trying to escape the invasion of the armed bandits.

“I quickly woke up and saw gun-wielding men who were mostly in black attires creeping into the large mining site. I sensed trouble. I also woke my friend, Ilyasu, a co-miner who was sleeping beside me on a large mat. I whispered into his ears that gunmen had invaded the mining site”,  Sani Ado, who escaped an attack said.

“They came at about 11:30pm, alighted from their motorbikes a kilometer away from the field and moved into the site. They met one man dozing off close to his mining pit, woke him up and asked him to identify the gold dealers.

“As they were moving from one mining pit or gold dealer to another collecting cash and grams of mined gold, one man screamed for help and they did not waste time in spraying bullets on him. He died instantly.

“And they began to fire shots into the air. All the miners and shop owners at the site scampered for safety. The place was quickly deserted. Dealers who had flooded the mining sites to buy gold as well as traders abandoned their belongings and ran into the forest,” he added.

The state Commissioner for Environment, Alhaji Ahmad Mukhtar Lugga, told Daily Trust that most of those mining gold in the state are artisinal or small scale miners, thus, denying the presence of some big mining companies as being insinuated in some quarters.

He said about 300  mining cooperative groups had been registered by the state government over the years.

Alhaji Lugga further explained that those with mining lease in the state are very few, adding that the miners had to obtain their exploration licenses from the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel.

“Those talking about ex-military generals conducting mining activities in Zamfara State, perhaps, they are talking about General Aliyu Gusau and General Abdulsalam Abubakar. Yes , they obtained the mining exploration license but they are yet to start mining activities proper,” Lugga said.

“Even those with the exploration licenses, a few of them have obtained the mining lease that gives them the permission to start  mining activities. Before you even start the mining you have to have a community agreement that you will build hospitals or schools in the mining community,” he added.

Alhaji Lugga said some of those who got the exploration license were yet to start exploration because without the exploration nobody can determine the quantity of gold deposits in a particular place.

“I can tell you that you can hardly get 15 to 20 percent out of 100 of those that obtained either exploration licenses or mining lease that are into mining activities. Many of them have held their licenses looking for investors, and an investor would not come until he knows what is on ground. These are the issues concerning mining in Zamfara State.

“I know of Indians who obtained license for about 10 years but are yet to come to Zamfara to develop the site. Most of those that obtained licenses have never been to Zamfara.

“Zamfara State falls within the Gold Belt in Africa that stretches from Ghana, Kwara State and Birnin Gwari in neigbouring Kaduna State, but, no one has verifiable reserve estimates of gold  in the state.

“What is happening is that artisinal miners would explore a site and once they are able to get some grams of gold you would see a heavy concentration of small scale miners in that particular field.

“But, after some time you won’t find any one there after they might have finished the available deposits in the place, they would then move to another place,” he added.

The Chairman of Anka Local Government Area, Alhaji Mustapha Gado, told Daily Trust that they had earlier written a letter to the state government requesting them to halt mining in the state.

The Managing Director of a Gusau based mining company,  “Inta General Enterprises”, Alhaji Shamsuddeen Sani Dahiru, told our correspondent in Gusau that though they were backing all moves by the authorities to bring lasting peace, they were against linking the insecurity to mining activities.

“Armed bandits have no links with mining activities in the state. Banning mining activities would compound the problem of unemployment. I have over 200 people working under me, but despite this we will heed the directive,”he added.

The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu Abubakar, had said they would soon  deploy personnel to mining sites in Zamfara to ensure compliance with  the ban on mining activities in the state.

He said they banned mining in activities in the state to cut links between armed criminals in the forests and their collaborators in the towns.