The federal government has increased the rates and charges for all activities in the mining sector.
Mr Alake said the bars will soon be sold to the Central Bank of Nigeria to strengthen the nation’s foreign reserves.
He noted that the move was a demonstration of government’s determination to sanitise the mining sector.
“It is not acceptable for millions of dollars to be spent on power and then we have them vandalised.”
The MAN national president urged the government to invest more in improving the human and logistic capacities of the regulatory bodies.
Thirty people were said to be trapped in the pit at a mining site operated by African Minerals and Logistics Ltd.
The Mining Marshal Corps, inaugurated on March 21, was drawn from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to combat illegal mining.
“Our objective is to make solid minerals’ contribution to the GDP surpass oil,” said Mr Alake.
Dele Alake, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, says the federal government will deploy technology to monitor mining sites nationwide.
Mr Alake said that the move was aimed at sanitising the sector and repositioning it to boost the economic profile of the country.
