According to the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) report, 1,273 Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) conducted mining activities across the country in 2020. This was reported in its annual audit of the mining sector.
Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is mining done informally by miners who extract natural resources across the country as their source of livelihood. These subsistence miners use mostly crude implements.
Their activities provide a source of livelihood for millions in the rural areas where they are clustered. The government has attempted to recognise them and formalise their activities.
Data shows that most artisanal miners are found in the country’s northern region, as 6 out of every 10 artisanal miners operate in the northern region, with 775 of the 1,273 miners, comprising 60.8% of the total ASM in 2020, from the region.
Of the 1,273 reported in 2020, 355 operated from the country’s north-central region. This made up 27.89% of the entire ASM in 2020, and they extracted mostly gold, coal, lead/zinc ore, limestone, iron ore, and bitumen.
The northwest region had the second largest group of artisanal miners in 2020. Two hundred and thirty-six (18.54%) operated in the country’s northwest region in 2020. Most of these miners across the northwest extracted mostly gold and iron ore.
The northeast region had 184 miners operating at the various limestone and barite fields. This region accounted for 14.45% of subsistence miners in 2020.
Across the southern region, the southwest recorded the highest ASM operation in 2020. 182 ASM in this region mined minerals such as gold and bitumen. The region accounted for 14.3% of the total ASM.
In the southeast, mineral deposits such as lead/zinc, limestone, iron ore, and barite were explored by 170 ASM. The south-south had 146 ASM in 2020, mainly mined limestone, barite, and bitumen.
The ASM, over the years, has developed as a key group in the extraction of solid minerals. Their activities have boosted the development of rural economies by providing employment, poverty reduction, and government revenue.
However, they employ crude implements for their operations because of limited capacity and resources. Thus, their operations are saddled with many challenges. Topmost amongst these are the occupational safety of workers, exposure to health hazards, inefficiency in exploitation and production, and low mechanical efficiency, reflecting a low productivity level.
Due to the nature of the mining sector, the ASM is mostly associated with illegal miners, which is not the case. Their presence is duly recognised by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development. With the ministry working towards alleviating their challenges. One of the ministry’s many programs is the Presidential Artisanal Gold Mining Development Initiative (PAGMI).
The PAGMI is the government’s initiative to develop the ASM’s production capacity. Since these people use mostly crude implements and their limited resources won’t be able to process these minerals to export standards, PAGMI comes to their aid as a middleman, purchasing raw outputs from ASM and processing them to export standards before exporting.
Activities carried out in 2020 to enhance ASM productivity include the segmentation of artisanal miners into cooperatives and the provision of extension services programs through mining cooperatives across the six geopolitical zones where they were trained.
It is expected that this will boost their output and enhance revenue generation at the rural level while improving the livelihoods of the locals.