Illegal gold mining has been a culture and has continued to thrive despite government’s threat to prosecute culprits. When you go to a place like Ilesha, there is a village where gold mining takes place; I was there. Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, recently acknowledged that illegal gold mining became lucrative due to rising gold price amid the coronavirus pandemic. He noted that price hike at the international stock market contributed to the spike in illegal mining. Zamfara State, in North West Nigeria, is also well known for illegal gold mining, which prompted the Federal Government to freeze operations there in April 2019.

Source: The Guardian June 09, 2020 04:30 UTC