The Federal Government has revoked 1,263 mineral licences over failure of operators to comply with statutory requirements.
The licences, which will be deleted from the Electronic Mining Cadastral System portal of the Nigerian Mining Cadastral Office (MCO), include 584 exploration licences, 65 mining leases, 144 quarry licences, and 470 small-scale mining leases.
Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, announced the revocation in a statement issued by his media aide, Segun Tomori, on Sunday in Abuja.
According to him, the affected companies failed to pay their annual service fees as required by law.
The latest action brings the total number of mineral titles revoked under the Tinubu administration to 3,794, comprising 2,619 licences withdrawn for non-payment of annual service fees and 912 cancelled last year for dormancy.
Alake said the decision was aimed at discouraging speculators and encouraging genuine investors.
“The era of obtaining licences and keeping them in drawers for the highest bidder, while financially capable businessmen complain of lack of access to good sites, is over,” he said.
He added that the revocation did not amount to a waiver of outstanding debts, stressing that the list of defaulters would be forwarded to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for recovery.
Director-General of the MCO, Simon Nkom, explained that the agency initially identified 1,957 defaulters when it published a gazette notice on June 19, 2025, giving licence holders 30 days to comply.
He said some companies that had made payments through Remita were later cleared after reconciliation, which led to the final list of 1,263.
Nkom maintained that the clean-up exercise was necessary to sanitise the sector and attract serious investors.