Governor Umo Eno have ordered the immeduate closure of an illegal mining site in Ibeno Local government.
The order was given on monday 28th August, 2023 during an unscheduled visit to the illegal mining site operated by Chinese Nationals at Esuk Ikim Ekeme comunity in the area.
Hon. Commissioner for Environment and Mineral Resources (MEMR), Chief Uno Etim Uno, and his Ministry of Internal Security counterpart, Brigadier General Koko Essien (rtd), on Monday, August 28, 2023 on the invitation of the Executive chairman paid an unscheduled visit to the illegal mining site.
During an on the spot acessment of the site, the Managing Director and Director of the company, Zeng Zhonghuan and Huang Ying, were not available at the site. The available staff members could not provide any informations or documents to accertain their legality except for the fact that they were mining substance known as Titanium Ore which was discovered to be a black clay-like minerals packed in sack bags of 50kg hence their operation does not comply with mining regulations as they were only issued certificat of exploration and not certificate of mining by the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals.
Hon commissioner for environment reiterated that the miners violated all that was required of them before embarking on their mining activities, stressing that their activities posed health dangers of the community around the mining site. the problem of post-mining land damage , landslide and the dangers of ocean surge disasters.
In a meeting with staffs of the company which was done through an interpreter the following anomalies were uncovered about their operations
- The company, Ruitai Mining Company, is purely an exploration company
- Ruitai Mining Company’s Board of Directors comprises only Chinese, thus, not eligible to acquire the Small-scale Mining License