Tin city: rich, but begging to come alive again

Mining and smelting of these resources facilitated economic development before and shortly after the discovery of petroleum.With petroleum becoming the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy, mining on the Plateau receded steadily and today, what is left behind are large ponds and gullies. Mr Yohana Zee, a professional miner told Weekly Trust that, “there aren’t  much mining […]

Mining and smelting of these resources facilitated economic development before and shortly after the discovery of petroleum.With petroleum becoming the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy, mining on the Plateau receded steadily and today, what is left behind are large ponds and gullies.

Mr Yohana Zee, a professional miner told Weekly Trust that, “there aren’t  much mining activities on the Plateau like in the past. What obtain now are just waste products buried as unwanted minerals which now attracts commercial value.”

Yohana said “the waste products thrown away when commercial mining took place are what the people are going back to dig out, process and sell because they have discovered it also has commercial value. But still, there are some deposits around Gero Village that are yet to be explored but it will require the use of heavy machines.”

Weekly Trust visited a pond at Gero Village, a journey of about 20 kilomters from Bukuru in Jos South Local Government Area.

At Gero, fifty Seven year-old miner, Ibrahim Pam, told our reporter that he started mining tin and columbite 40 years ago. “Even when the white man was here, I never worked with them. I did it my self.

“Now that they have all left, I am taking over several of the large ponds they left to quicken mining and that is why I am using generator to fasten the process of sifting the mineral,” said Ibrahim Pam, who said he inherited the trade from his father.

Pam said he has been harassed most times by the police and task force for illegal mining but according to him, his land, which he supposed to farm on, has been destroyed by mining activities and no compensation has been given to the family, hence, mining is the only option for him.

“I have 11 children and a wife I must feed with the amount I get from mining. So, I don’t consider my occupation illegal,” he added.

Pam’s son, Bitrus Ibrahim, said he is 34 years old and all his life, he has been a local miner. He said he has five children and a wife and the entire family depended on mining.

Bitrus said they used to mine about five to ten 50kilogram bags of tin and columbite which he put the value between N30,000 and N60,000  depending on the cleanliness of the product.

Bitrus said they never though of having risk insurance given that mining has risk. Despite the danger, women too also excavate the site to earn a living.

At the tin mining collection and processing site popularly known as Wilbe in Guru Landor ward in the Bukuru, two women, Serah Davou and Chin Dung Timothy, were busy extracting some remains of tin from the collapsed walls of the company. When this report visited the site.  According to them, the company wall, built in the 70s was constructed with some deposit tin; hence, they were trying to extract the few minerals in the blocks.

Mrs. Timothy said she has a family to feed and through the mining job, she has been able to take care of her family.

Another major mining marketing company is in Bukuru, Pastor Ekene, who heads the company there, said the prospect of mining on the Plateau is high but that it would require a lot of capital to outlay. “This is because there are no local markets for these goods. Therefore, we have to export them to Europe and Russia where the demand is higher.”

He identified “lack of equipment, illegal mining activities as some of the major problems hampering their operation.

He called on the government to restore the good olden days of mining by giving loans to small and large scale miners.