Why government revoked 278 small-scale mining licenses

The Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Sulemana Yusif, has explained why the ministry revoked 278 small-scale mining licenses.

According to him, during his appearance before the Public Accounts Committee on November 4, 2025, he stated that they identified about 907 irregularities after a careful review of nearly 1,300 mining licenses.

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He mentioned that some of the infractions identified were administrative in nature.

“When we came into office, close to 1,300 licenses were reviewed. After that, we realised that 907 irregularities or infractions were identified. We further realised that some of these infractions were administrative in nature, which we asked the Minerals Commission to resolve,” Yusif said as quoted by citinewsroom.com.

The deputy minister further emphasised that the ministry’s actions were necessary to address certain issues, noting that many of the licenses had been approved without following proper procedures, contrary to lawful recommendations that some mining activities should not have been permitted.

He maintained that the Ministry’s decision to revoke the licenses was lawful and backed by evidence of procedural and ethical breaches in the approval process.

“As I speak with you, just last week, about 278 small-scale mining licenses were revoked. Because we found out that a lot of the irregularities that have not been resolved were the reasons why we had to revoke them. In many cases, even when the recommendation said the mining should not happen, they went ahead and approved and gave out those concessions. We have revoked all such, and we challenge them to take us to court,” he asserted.

The Deputy Minister also pointed out that many of the revoked concessions presented major safety and environmental hazards, with some located perilously close to residential areas and high-voltage power lines.

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“There were instances where the concessions were close to communities. If you were to go ahead to mine, you would end up mining within the homes of people. Also, we had some high-tension power lines running through the concession, and these ordinarily should not have been approved, but they were,” he said.

MAG/MA

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