Foreign companies that wish to commence mining activity in Nigeria must obtain permission from the relevant government agency before engaging in mining operations. The Nigeria Mining Cadastre Office has exclusive responsibility to administer mineral titles.
In line with section 46 of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007, the right to search for, or exploit minerals in Nigeria, is governed by one of the following mineral titles:
• Reconnaissance Permit
• Exploration License
• Small Scale Mining Lease
• Mining Lease
• Quarry Lease
• Water Use Permit
LICENSE/PERMIT APPLICATION PROCEDURES
Application forms for the different mining title can be obtained from the Mining Cadastre Offices or downloaded from the agency's website: www.miningcadastre.gov.ng. After downloading the form, applicants are expected to:
- Submit completed application form (in 3 copies) along with the necessary documents (as specified in the application form) and processing fees to the MCO in line with the provision of the Nigeria Minerals and Mining Act, 2007
- Submitted application shall be assigned with an identifying code and registered with date, hour and minute in the priority register dully signed and a copy to be given to the applicant as application certificate.
- Incomplete or wrongly completed application shall be rejected without refund of application fee.
- Where applications require minor amendments, the applicant shall be duly informed to effect the necessary corrections within a period of 5 working days; and if no response within the specified period, the application shall be rejected without any refund.
- After registration, the MCO shall provisionally plot the perimeter on the cadastral maps.
- If granted a license/permit, the applicant shall be informed and be given 2 weeks within which to pay the Annual Service Fee (see fee table) and collect the license/permit.
- If the applicant does not collect the license/permit within fifteen days of notification, the license shall be automatically cancelled, while provisional plotting be deleted from the cadastral maps and shall be sanctioned from applying for the same area or portion of it during the next three months
