Ministry Advises Miners On Environmental Laws

The Ministry of Mines and Steel Development has advised miners to comply with all mining and environmental laws in the country to ensure safety during mining operations.
The Acting Director of Mines Environmental and Compliance Department in the ministry, Mr Salim Adegboyega, gave the advice in an interview with The Tide on Sunday in Abuja.
He said that the ministry had created considerable awareness among the miners on environmental safety and enforced the use of protective devices such as hand gloves, helmets, safety boots and working garment.
Adegboyega said that the awareness campaign was anchored by field officers who toured various mining sites to ensure compliance with laws on environmental safety.
“We ensure that wastes from the mines were properly monitored by the field officers. The officers would discover any pollutant in the wastes in good time; the monitoring is carried out periodically,’’ he said.
He said that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Act stipulated that no miner should carry out any major mining project without getting the approval from the Federal Ministry of Environment.
Adegboyega said that the ministry of mines and steel development and the ministry of environment routinely carried out environmental audit of various mining sites.