The Nigerian Mining Cadastre Office (MCO) says it has received 10, 805 applications for new mineral titles and modifications since the launch of its Electronic Mining Cadastre Systems (eMC+) in 2022.

The Director General of MCO, Mr Obadiah Nkom, disclosed this during the organisation’s business session, at the 59th Annual International Conference and Exhibition of the Nigeria Mining and Geosciences Society (NMGS) on Tuesday in Jos.

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Nkom explained that the applications were received between 2022 and February 2024.

Nkom said that 4,306 were unassisted online transactions, representing 39.85 per cent of all applications, indicating stakeholders’ swift adoption of the system.

He said that the MCO was saddled with the responsibility of the administration and management of mineral titles and maintenance of cadastre registrar in accordance with the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007.

The DG said that the eMC+ was an innovation of the organisation conceived to facilitate the ease of doing business in the mining sector, increase transparency, efficiency, and service delivery, as well as to align with best practices.

“The function of eMC+ is summed up as being able to create and maintain chronological records, but the most important is to ensure that mineral title administrations are managed and administered in the most transparent manner, “ he said,

According to him, the benefits also include better services for operators, support and tracking of all transaction processing steps and improved compliance with mining regulations among other factors.

He noted that most of the mining activities were  artisanal and small-scale in nature, saying they have a department saddled with the responsibility of coordinating their activities.

“We have a department called artisanal and small department to be able to organise them in to cooperatives and give them extension services,” he said.

In another development, the MCO boss, who chaired the business session of Plateau government at the conference, said that proper enlightenment was crucial to mitigate accidents at mining sites.

Nkom stated this while reacting to a report that 36 people were recently killed in mining pits in the state.

He said that in such situations, owners of legal mining sites with titles were expected to report the incidents to prevent them from recurring.

He, however, expressed concern  that most operations were illegal  and lacked safe methods, saying that repositioning the mining sector required the cooperation of all stakeholders for its success.

“Everyone has a role to play from the local government areas, traditional rulers and the community members, “ he said.