Tin became a main foreign earner and the mainstay of Nigeria

Tag : tin ore
It is unfortunate that the colonial masters came and wasted ourland through mining activities, and done a great damage to us,leaving us without a gain for it. The lands have been impoverished,such that farmers now need fertilisers to grow their crops. Yetthey left us with meagre compensation, and even sold their housesto the indigenes when they were leaving. It is indeed pathetic.This was the lamentation of one of the top government officials inPlateau State over close to 5,000 dangerously abandoned miningponds in the state.
The State Government recently disclosed that it would require N25billion to reclaim few of these ponds scattered across the state.The Commissioner of Solid Mineral Development, Hon. Ibrahim Salesaid at a press conference as part of activities to mark theforth-coming Nigeria Solid Mineral Summit scheduled to hold in thestate, that Plateau State had made a presentation to the FederalGovernment, expressing hope that something would be done toalleviate the sufferings of the communities harbouring such ponds.
Since the discovery of Tin on the Plateau, the mineral became amain foreign earner and the mainstay of Nigerias economy for along time until petroleum was discovered. Kaduna Prospectus NigeriaLimited was particularly noted for the colossal damage it did inthe state with its exorbitant mining activities. But like in theNiger-Delta region of today, a lot of degradation took place, wherefarmlands were, and have been ravaged due to these activities,without a corresponding compensational scheme for the land owners.Consequently, the over 100 years of serious mining in Jos andenvirons has left a derelict landscape covering some 300 squarekilometres of wasted land.
In addition to these ponds that have paved ways for erosion andfloods that have ravaged the state, there is a by-product of tinmining called radioactive waste. This affects the health of thepeople as soils dug up at mining sites contain radioactive waste,mine tailing, which contain Naturally Occurring RadioactiveMaterials (NORM). People living around these sites, or in housesbuilt with these soils stand the risk of being exposed to certainlevel of radiation.
Tin mining was first discovered long ago in Kaza near a riverchannel in Jos. During the time of subsistence agriculture, thepeople needed more advanced tools besides their hands and sticks.The farmers saw tin minerals and crystals near the river. Theyrealised by mixing tin and iron, they could have strongeragricultural implements. Indigenous blacksmiths in Naraguta,located north of Jos central began to make a living from it. TheBirom ethnic group in Jos also found and produced tin along theDilimi River near Jos.
Soon, tin became popular during the industrial revolution inEurope. Spain used tin for gun barrels and during the First WorldWar, the need for tin increased for the use of ammunition. By 1913,there were one hundred and eight (108) mining companies registeredby the Royal Niger Company, and by 1943, tin mining on the JosPlateau was at its peak. There were well over 80,000 Africanworkers involved. Up till 1960, Jos was the sixth largest producerof tin in the world.
Two hundred and twenty-five kilometres of land was taken by tinmining. Ten years later, Nigeria was producing an average of 10,000tons of tin ore annually. Experts estimated that miners on thePlateau dig up six million tons of soil each year. Jos and itssurroundings became famous as a result of these mining activitiesand many foreigners began to settle there. But this was at theexpense of the citizens who had their lands gradually destroyed andtheir wealth carted away at no cost.
These decades of tin mining left them a legacy of polluted water,impoverished land and even radioactive waste. Some areas in thestate, such as Bukuru, Rayfield, Shere Hills and Anglo-Jos, uglygullies left over from past mining activities can be seen almosteverywhere. Unfortunately, effluents from nearby industries haveseeped deep into these holes. The topsoil also washes into streamsin neighbouring villages  these streams are used for drinking andother domestic purposes. In addition, locals use soil left overfrom the abandoned mining sitecontaining naturally foundradioactive heavy metalsto build houses. Environmentalists fearthat people living in these houses risk being exposed to unhealthylevels of radiation.
For 67 years foreign companies controlled Jos tin mining industry.But when the industry was nationalised in 1972, no one tookresponsibility for clearing up the mess left behind. Many years on,little appears to have been done to curb the degenerating hazard oralleviate its effects on the citizens.
In response to the NORM situation in the country, the Presidency incollaboration with the NNRA appointed some consultants in December2006, to carry out a survey of the tin-mine tailings on the JosPlateau and recommend ways of ameliorating its impact on theworkers and the public. The observations and lessons from thesurvey showed that there was need to address the issue ofradioactive waste in the mining industry in general.
These included the issues of responsibility for the radioactivewaste generated and the responsibility for ameliorating/eliminatingthe health hazards associated with the radioactive waste. Severalyears of mining and processing of cassiterite (tin ore) andcolumbite (niobium ore) in the Jos Plateau that have generatedlarge quantities of tailings that are rich in these radioactiveminerals are mostly dumped haphazardly in the environment.
Radiation monitoring in the area and at some processing millsshowed different levels of dose rate. Elemental composition ofthese tailings showed high concentrations of uranium and thoriumwith values. The in-situ dose rate measurements for public andworker exposures are significantly higher than the recommendedvalues. The fact that the mine tailings are also used by thevillagers for plastering their mud houses, while the elite use itfor the lining of golf courses and tennis lawns. Such a situationcalls for an urgent regulatory concern, particularly from theFederal and the Plateau State governments.
The Plateau people are naturally a peace-loving people that wouldnot resort to violence and hostage taking like in the Niger-Delta,but considering that the mining benefited the entire nation, itwould just be fair that the Federal Government shares in the burdenof the people, by arranging some compensation to alleviate theirsufferings. The governments (federal, state and local) have to cometogether to partner with the private sectors to mitigate theradiological impact, especially on the health of the people.
The government of Governor Jonah Jang must at this point becommended for assisting the flood victims to get back on their footand stabilise. However, proactive measures are needed to avoid moredisasters, and this is by joint efforts of the state and federalgovernments to ensure that these ponds that eventually develop intogullies and pave way for floods are covered and farmland recovered.