The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps’ mining marshals have warned illegal mining operators across the country to desist or face imprisonment by a court of law.

The mining marshal commander, Attah Onoja, said this during an interview on Wednesday in Abuja.

The commander stated that illegal mining offences attracted zero fine penalties but rather jail terms at the discretion of the Federal High Court.

“You will hardly hear anything like fines in illegal mining offences. Although judgments and punishment are at the discretion of the court based on the circumstances of the case, I can assure you that the punishment is not palatable.

“For now, we are appealing to those engaging in illegal mining operations because they are citizens that have not been arrested yet,” said the NSCDC official.

Mr Onoja added, “However since they are not under the weight of the law yet, they have the opportunity to change and learn from the experiences of those carrying out similar illegitimate activities and have been arrested by the mining marshals.

“The mining marshals is a non-compromising unit, so when you are finally arrested, you will face the full wrath of the law, and these offences are Federal High Court offences that will keep you in jail for your active period.”

Mr Onoja clarified that the marshals and the NSCDC are not responsible for licence allocation or renewal.

“Illegal mining is not necessarily the absence of a licence. You can have a licence and be involved in illegal operations because the earlier mentioned three types of licences have their respective scope.

“For exploration, you are only on a voyage to ascertain what mineral deposit you can get at that site, pick them, analyse in a lab to know the composition and context then check for viability before proceeding to obtain a licence for mining.

“SSML gives you the opportunity to mine but not in commercial quantities as you cannot go seven meters deep but a mining licence allows you to do commercial or industrial mining.

“You can have these three and be operating within their scope but in a different location not assigned to you, that’s illegal mining,” Mr Onoja explained.

(NAN)