Illegal Mining in Nigeria: Laws, Scale and Tech Fixes

Illegal mining in Nigeria is any exploration or mining carried out outside the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007. Section 131 of the Act makes it an offence to explore or mine other than in accordance with the Act, and section 133 sets the penalty for a mineral titleholder who does so at a fine of not less than N20 million and imprisonment of not less than five years. Nobody has a reliable head count of the miners involved: estimates of artisanal and small-scale workers start at 500,000 and reach 1,000,000 or more. On the enforcement side, the ministry told the public in September 2026 that its Mining Marshals had arrested 743 suspects since March 2024. This guide sets out the law, the scale, the harm and the enforcement record, then tests what drones, satellites and biometric gates can and cannot prove, with a loss calculator for licence holders.

Terms used below. A mineral title is the legal right to explore or mine a block of ground, such as an exploration licence or a small-scale mining lease. Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) means low-capital mining by individuals, groups or cooperatives. Gold ore grade is the grams of gold per tonne of rock, written g/t. Recovery is the share of the gold in the ore that ends up in the final product. A cadastre is the official register of who holds which block of ground. This page gives facts from official and published sources. It is not legal advice.

What counts as illegal mining in Nigeria

The Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007 is the law that decides this. Chapter 5, “Offences and Penalties”, opens with section 131, which covers four things: exploring, mining or quarrying otherwise than in accordance with the Act, giving false information in a title application, giving false or incomplete information in a report or return, and removing, possessing or disposing of minerals contrary to the Act. So an unlicensed pit, a licence holder who mines outside the licence terms, and a trader who moves ore without the right paperwork can all fall under the same section.

The penalties sit in the next sections of the same chapter. Section 133 names titleholders; the sections quoted here set no separate penalty for people who hold no title. Under section 133, a titleholder guilty of a section 131 offence is liable to have the licence revoked and, on first conviction, to a fine of not less than N20,000,000 and imprisonment of not less than five years. If the offence continues, a further fine of N20,000 applies for each day it goes on. Section 134 separately penalises salting (planting minerals to mislead buyers) and engaging in milling, leaching, sampling, concentrating, assaying, transporting or dealing in ores contrary to the Act, with a fine of not less than N500,000 or up to two years in prison, or both. Courts decide the actual sentence, so treat these as the figures in the text of the Act as published in the Laws of Nigeria compendium, and confirm the current wording with a Nigerian lawyer.

The legal route: six kinds of mineral title

The Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office (NMCO) lists six mineral titles: Reconnaissance Permit, Exploration Licence, Small Scale Mining Lease, Quarry Lease, Mining Lease and Water Use Permit. Citizens with legal capacity and no criminal conviction, companies incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, and mining cooperatives can apply for a Reconnaissance Permit or a Small Scale Mining Lease, which is why cooperatives matter so much for artisanal miners. A full Mining Lease goes to a company that has shown a commercial quantity of mineral in the area and met the conditions of its exploration licence. The NMCO says processing takes a maximum of 30 working days for permits and licences and 45 working days for leases.

To find out whether a block of ground is already held, the NMCO tells applicants to take the coordinates of the site to any NMCO office, where an officer enters them into the cadastre database and shows on screen whether the area is open at that moment. The Act also requires the office to keep a separate register for each title type. For the licensing steps, the exploration picture and the satellite map layers for Nigeria, see our guide to gold exploration in Nigeria.

How big is the problem, and where does it happen

There is no audited national figure for unlicensed output or for the number of people involved. The artisanal mining database at artisanalmining.org records that no reliable source exists for the total number of ASM workers in Nigeria. It lists a 2021 Global Environment Facility figure of 500,000 people in artisanal gold mining, a 2018 Intergovernmental Forum figure of 500,000 working in ASM with about 2,500,000 dependants, and a figure of 1,000,000 given by a ministry official at the 2018 OECD Responsible Minerals Forum. The same page cites 14,000 kg of gold produced and 21,000 kg of mercury released by artisanal gold mining each year (GEF, 2021).

Chart

Published estimates of Nigerian artisanal miners

Thousand people; three published estimates with different scopes, not a count of offenders

These are estimates of the whole artisanal sector, not of offenders. The UNEP-linked guidance cited below says artisanal gold miners largely work informally, illegally or in legal grey areas, so no source splits the workforce into legal and illegal. Treat the chart above as the range of published estimates, not as a count of offenders.

Press reports repeat a loss figure for the state: TheDiggerNews wrote in June 2026 that the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) estimates such activities cost about US$9 billion in revenue a year. The report gives no method for that figure, so it is a press estimate, not an audited loss.

Where does it happen? The sources cited here name these places. Zamfara State in the north-west is where gold ore processing led to the 2010 lead poisoning outbreak and where armed groups have been linked to mining sites. Kogi State has been of particular concern to the ministry, and the minister said the Marshals chased more than 3,000 illegal miners off one licensed site there. Other recovered sites named by the ministry are in Kuje (Federal Capital Territory) and Abia State, and two foreign nationals were convicted in Kwara State. Kebbi and Osun were the pilot states for the government’s artisanal gold programme. The video below gives a wider view of Nigeria’s gold sector.

▶ A longer look at Nigeria’s gold sector, its opportunities and its challenges. · 12:46

What illegal mining does to land, water and people

The clearest documented harm is the Zamfara lead poisoning outbreak. In spring 2010, health workers found abnormally high child illness and death in four villages of Zamfara State. An Environmental Health Perspectives report on the investigation says blood tests on eight children showed lead levels at least 16 times the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention level of concern. In the two worst-hit villages, blood was taken from 59% of children under five, and 97% of them had lead levels at or above 45 micrograms per decilitre, the point at which the CDC recommends chelation treatment (a drug treatment that binds lead so the body can clear it).

Chart

Under-five mortality in the Zamfara outbreak villages

Deaths per 1,000 live births, 2010 household survey versus the national average quoted in the report

The cause was lead-rich gold ore being crushed and processed inside family compounds. A household survey found that 25% of all children under five had died in the previous year, a rate of 255 per 1,000 live births against a national average of 157 per 1,000. Soil sampling found heavy lead contamination in 85% of the compounds where ore was processed, and the worst sample was 250 times the US Environmental Protection Agency safety limit of 400 ppm for play areas. The authors note limits: some deaths could not be tied definitively to lead because medical records were missing, and the survey team had limited training. Even so, the report concludes that the evidence points to lead poisoning from artisanal ore processing, and that chelation, soil replacement and an education campaign may have sharply reduced child deaths in the worst villages.

Mercury is the second health issue in gold work. The UNEP-linked guidance on remote sensing for artisanal gold notes that artisanal gold miners often process ore with mercury and that artisanal gold mining operates mostly informally, illegally or in legal grey areas. Streams, farmland and forest edges take the damage when pits, tailings and roads appear without a site plan. For a short, sourced overview of the seven main impacts of mining on land, water and air, watch the video below.

The link to armed groups and the Zamfara ban

Illegal mining in the north-west has also been tied to banditry. In April 2019 the federal government suspended mining in Zamfara State after the state police chief described a “strong and glaring nexus” between armed bandits and illicit miners, as the Council on Foreign Relations records. Good Governance Africa reviewed the ban and found it hard to enforce because armed groups kept control of mining sites. Using Nigeria Security Tracker data, it counts 2,247 reported insecurity-linked deaths in Zamfara from 2015 to 2019 and 6,349 in the four years after the ban, and notes that many incidents go unreported. The minister announced the lifting of the ban in December 2024, saying that it had inadvertently allowed illegal miners to exploit resources. Community members told the think tank that armed groups still controlled some sites after the lifting. These figures show a coincidence in time, not proof that the ban caused the deaths.

▶ The seven environmental impacts of mining, explained in plain words with satellite maps and sourced facts. · 2:31

How Nigeria enforces the law: the Mining Marshals

The Mining Marshals are the federal enforcement unit created for the solid minerals sector. According to the ministry’s anniversary statement, they marked one year in existence on 21 March 2025, which puts the start at March 2024. The unit began with 2,220 officers and had 2,670 by March 2025 after 350 new recruits and 100 higher-level officers joined. The same statement reported 327 suspected illegal miners arrested, 98 sites recovered, and 457 suspected illegal sites identified through better intelligence. At that point they covered 10 states, with a plan to extend to all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The National Commandant said the unit had responded to petitions from legitimate title holders who could not reach their sites because of illegal miners and, in some cases, bandits.

Chart

Mining Marshals: reported results at two dates

Suspects arrested and sites recovered or cleared, cumulative since March 2024

By August 2026 the minister’s figures were larger. As reported on 4 September 2026, he said 374 illegal mining sites had been identified between March 2024 and August 2026, 108 had been cleared, 743 suspects arrested, and 165 cases involving 430 accused persons were being prosecuted. The 2026 count of identified sites is lower than the 2025 count of 457, so the two statements do not count sites on the same basis. Compare the arrests and the cleared sites across the two dates, as the chart does, not the number of sites identified.

Convictions are fewer than arrests. TheDiggerNews reported in June 2026 that the minister’s statements covered more than 300 arrests, 150 prosecutions and nine convictions in 2025. The minister’s statement of 4 September 2026, as reported by News Express, gives five convictions secured so far; the two reports give different counts. The same report notes that the force had grown to 2,670 and says that is still too few to extend beyond the 10 states covered, that some stakeholders want the Marshals to work with the Mines Department rather than alone, and that controversies and corruption allegations have followed the force; the minister has described those allegations as unsubstantiated. Treat the performance numbers as official claims, since they come from ministry statements.

Drones: what they can and cannot do on a mining site

A drone gives a licence holder or an inspector a close, dated picture of ground that is hard or unsafe to reach. A 2025 peer-reviewed conference paper on gold-panning sites around the Benue National Park in northern Cameroon, a neighbouring country, shows what the images contain. The team flew a DJI Phantom 4 Pro RTK at 60 to 80 m, which gave about 2 to 10 cm per pixel, and from the drone images they estimated the area affected by mining, the number of pits and alluvial tunnels, and the streams damaged. They also gathered ground information about the people involved, the stages of work and the chemicals used. The authors argue that field surveys are costly and hard in areas of insecurity, and that satellite imagery is limited by resolution and by cloud.

The Mining Marshals say they use drones and small robots. TheDiggerNews quotes the minister that they use miniature robots and drones for surveillance, and the March 2025 ministry statement describes a plan for both air and ground coverage. The ministry statements cited here give no count of Marshal drones, flights or detections, so the number of cases drones have solved is not public.

Drone rules in Nigeria

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) regulates drones as Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS). Part 21 of the Nig.CARs 2023 regulations sets requirements for the certification, registration, operations and surveillance of RPAS, with an issue and effective date of 17 May 2023. The NCAA’s certification page says it issues an RPAS Operations Certificate to any organisation that wants to carry out commercial RPAS operations, and lists the application form and a schedule of fees. A mining company flying its own drone over its licence should check with the NCAA before any flight whether its use counts as commercial and what other clearances apply.

Limits to plan for

• A drone covers a site, not a state. Flying lower gives finer detail but covers less ground per flight.
• Drone footage shows what is on the ground at the time of the flight. It does not tell you who the people are or whether they hold a title.
• Evidence is stronger when each flight is dated, located with GPS and matched to the cadastre boundary.
• Flying over armed or hostile groups is dangerous for staff and equipment. The Marshals’ commandant cites dangerous terrain and security risks among the challenges of the work.

Satellites: what they can see from orbit

Satellites cover whole districts on a schedule and keep an archive, which is why enforcement agencies use them to find new clearings, pits, ponds and tracks. Two widely used open-data optical missions are Landsat and Sentinel-2. The U.S. Geological Survey notes that Sentinel-2 has a ground resolution of 10 metres in the visible and one near-infrared band and gives 5-day repeat coverage with two satellites. A 10 m pixel can show a cleared pit field, a pond or a new road. It cannot show a single hand-dug hole or a person.

The UNEP-linked guidance, written by University of Geneva researchers and partners, sets out how satellites support policy on artisanal gold. Cloud cover is a limit for optical data, while radar satellites such as Sentinel-1 work through cloud. A Ghanaian study cited there used Sentinel-1 time series to map artisanal gold activity along rivers, and the guidance warns that ground survey data must be combined with radar data to confirm mining locations. A study cited in the same guidance (Mensah and others, 2019) used Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data and found that illicit mining in the forest reserves it covered grew from 13,456 hectares in 2015 to 29,275 hectares in 2018. For the neighbouring Ghana picture, see our guide to gold exploration in Ghana.

What the Nigerian government has announced

TheDiggerNews reports that the Federal Executive Council approved N2.5 billion in 2025 for satellite technology to curb unlicensed mining, and that the minister described equipment at strategic locations giving real-time visual monitoring of mining operations nationwide. In September 2026 the minister said the ministry was still deploying technology alongside the Marshals. The report gives no specification, vendor, start date or detection results for the system, so its capability cannot be judged yet.

Under section 160 of the Act, the Minister may approve geological studies and mapping by specialised government agencies without a mineral title, and must give written notice to a titleholder if the work is in a licensed area. That is the legal basis for state mapping of licensed ground.

Farmonaut’s mining service starts from a licence boundary supplied as a KML, KMZ or polygon and returns satellite-derived exploration targets. It is designed to find mineralised zones, not to police sites, and it does not prove who is working on a given plot. See satellite-based mineral detection.

▶ Remote sensing for mining in three minutes: what measuring the ground from a distance means and why agreement between instruments matters. · 2:01

Biometric access control: what exists and what it cannot do

Biometric systems check a person’s identity from a fingerprint, iris or face. In Nigeria they are used at the registration stage rather than at open mine boundaries. In May 2023 the then Ministry of Mines and Steel Development said that biometric data capture for registered artisanal and small-scale miners would reduce illegal mining and smuggling, as part of formalising ASM operators. In January 2025 the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development began biometric data capture for people exposed to explosives, using fingerprints and facial recognition on a platform developed by Aribet International Limited, to tackle identity fraud and track who handles hazardous materials. Both are stated aims in official statements; the statements give no results on their effect.

This sets the limits of the tool. A scanner at a plant gate or a magazine door can log who entered, which helps with explosives control, payroll and incident records. It cannot stop a crew from digging a pit on unfenced ground, and it says nothing about whether the site has a title. Gate logs are useful evidence only if the site boundary is also recorded.

Privacy rules

Fingerprints and face scans are personal data. Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, biometric data processed solely to identify a person counts as sensitive personal data, which the Act protects with a higher standard of care. A law-firm summary of the Act says a controller cannot process sensitive data unless a ground applies, such as the person’s explicit consent or a legitimate interest with safeguards, and that high-risk processing calls for a data protection impact assessment. A mine operator that installs scanners should tell workers what is stored, for how long and who can see it, and should keep the data secure. Our piece on cybersecurity for mining covers the wider protection of site data.

Drones, satellites, biometrics and patrols compared

No single tool does the whole job. The table sets out what each one is good at, with the limits shown in the sources above. It carries no cost figures, because no sourced Nigerian price for drone patrols or biometric gates is cited here. For a wider look at technology across the mining industry, see our roundup of mining technology solutions.

What a licence holder can do: six steps

For a licence owner whose ground is being worked by others, the aim is a file that a regulator or court can act on. The steps below follow the sources above. They are a checklist, not legal advice.

1. Confirm the title and the boundary. Hold your certificate and the coordinates of the block. Ask the NMCO to confirm on its database that the block is held in your name and that no other title overlaps it.
2. Save a dated baseline. Keep a satellite image of the licence from before any intrusion. Sentinel-2 gives a new view about every 5 days when skies are clear, so a baseline can be matched to the date of the first clearing.
3. Survey the edge and the pits by drone. If you fly, get the NCAA clearance first. At 60 to 80 m the Cameroon team reached 2 to 10 cm per pixel and counted pits and tunnels from the images; do the same and log the date and GPS position of each flight.
4. Keep staff out of confrontations. The Marshals’ own commandant cites dangerous terrain and security risks. Let staff record what they see from a safe distance and report it.
5. File a petition with the enforcement agency. The Marshals say they responded to petitions from legitimate title holders who could not reach their sites. Attach the title, the coordinates, the dated images and the drone survey.
6. Keep monitoring and keep records. After a clearance, repeat the satellite and drone checks so you can show whether people return, and handle any worker biometric data in line with the Data Protection Act.

To compare the cost of a monitoring programme with the gold that is leaving your licence each month, use the calculator below. If you want to talk through mapping a licence, use the mining quote form or contact Farmonaut.

Livelihoods, rights and privacy

Technology does not remove the reason people mine without a title. The Council on Foreign Relations notes that Nigeria launched the Presidential Gold Mining Development Initiative (PAGMI) in 2019, with Kebbi and Osun as pilot states, as a way to bring informal miners into a regulated system. Good Governance Africa argues that Zamfara needs a census of mining sites, registration of artisanal miners and transparent tracking of mineral extraction and sales, alongside specialised security forces and surveillance by drones and satellite imagery. Cooperatives are one legal route, since they can apply for a Reconnaissance Permit or a Small Scale Mining Lease.

Three safeguards belong in any rollout. First, tell communities what a drone or satellite programme records and why. Second, apply the Data Protection Act to any biometric database and keep it narrow. Third, keep patrols and cooperatives in place, because tools that only detect do not offer miners a lawful alternative.

Frequently asked questions

What is illegal mining in Nigeria?

It is exploring or mining otherwise than in accordance with the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007, or removing, possessing or disposing of minerals contrary to the Act. Section 131 of the Act lists these offences.

What is the penalty for illegal mining in Nigeria?

Under section 133 of the Act, a titleholder guilty of a section 131 offence can lose the licence and faces a fine of not less than N20 million and imprisonment of not less than five years on first conviction, plus N20,000 for each further day of a continuing offence. Section 134 sets a fine of not less than N500,000 or up to two years in prison for salting and for milling, transporting or dealing in ores contrary to the Act. Section 133 applies to titleholders; the sections quoted set no separate penalty for people who hold no title. Courts set the actual sentence.

Who are the Mining Marshals?

They are the federal unit created in March 2024 to secure mining sites. The ministry reported 2,670 officers in March 2025 and 743 arrests between March 2024 and August 2026.

How many people mine illegally in Nigeria?

Nobody knows. Published estimates for the whole artisanal and small-scale sector range from 500,000 to 1,000,000 people, and most of them are not counted as offenders. The artisanal mining database says no reliable national source exists.

Can an individual get a mining title in Nigeria?

Yes, for some titles. According to the NMCO, a Nigerian citizen with legal capacity and no criminal conviction can apply for a Reconnaissance Permit, a Small Scale Mining Lease or a Quarry Lease. Companies and mining cooperatives can apply too, and a Mining Lease goes to a company that has met the conditions of its exploration licence.

How do I check whether an area is open for a licence?

Take the coordinates of the site to an NMCO office. The NMCO says an officer enters them into the cadastre database and shows on screen whether the area is open at that moment.

Do I need a permit to fly a drone over a mine in Nigeria?

The NCAA issues an RPAS Operations Certificate for commercial drone operations, under Part 21 of the Nig.CARs 2023. Check with the NCAA how your flight is classed and whether other clearances apply.

Can satellites detect illegal mining?

They can show new clearings, pits, ponds and tracks at about 10 m detail and compare dates, but cloud limits optical images and radar needs a ground check. A satellite cannot tell you who is working the ground or whether they hold a title.

Does biometric access control stop illegal mining?

Not on its own. It controls entry to a plant, store or explosives magazine and logs who went in. It does not cover open ground. The ministry says biometric registration of miners will reduce illegal mining; the statement gives no results yet.

Why was the Zamfara mining ban lifted?

The minister said in December 2024 that the 2019 ban had inadvertently allowed illegal miners to exploit resources, and cited security improvements. Good Governance Africa says armed groups kept control of sites during the ban and that some sites were still controlled by them after it was lifted.

What health risks come from illegal gold processing?

The documented case is the 2010 Zamfara lead poisoning outbreak, where ore was processed inside family compounds and 97% of the children tested in the worst-hit villages had lead levels at or above the CDC threshold for chelation treatment. Mercury use in artisanal gold work is a second risk.