FAQS

The office was established in 2007, by the provision of Section 5 of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, (NMMA) 2007, following the Mining Sector Reforms of restructuring the then Ministry of Solid Minerals Development.

The Office was established for the sole purpose of Administering and Managing Mineral Titles in Nigeria in a transparent and responsible manner.

• Reconnaissance Permit (RP)
• Exploration Licence (EL)
• Small Scale Mining Lease (SMML)
• Quarry Lease (QL)
• Mining Lease (ML)
• Water Use Permit (WUP)

• Reconnaissance Permit:
- A citizen of Nigeria with legal capacity who has not been convicted of a criminal offence;
- A body corporate duly incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act
- A Mining Co-operative.

• Exploration Licence:
- A body corporate duly incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act
- A Mining Co-operative
- The holder of a Reconnaissance Permit provided that the applicant has fulfilled all the conditions attached to the Reconnaissance Permit.

• Small Scale Mining Lease:
- A citizen of Nigeria with legal capacity who has not been convicted of a criminal offence
- A body corporate duly incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act
- A Mining Co-operative; or the holder of an Exploration License granted in respect of the area subject to the application, provided that the applicant has fulfilled all the conditions attached to the Exploration Licence.

• Mining Lease:
- A body corporate duly incorporated under the Companies and Allied Matters Act or, other legal entity
- that has demonstrated under conditions stated in the regulations that a commercial quantity of Mineral Resources exists in the area in respect of which the application is made; and
- has fulfilled all the conditions attached to the Exploration Licence in respect of the area subject to the application.

• Quarry Lease:
- Any individual citizen of Nigeria with legal capacity and who has not been convicted of a criminal offence;
- A body corporate duly registered under the Companies and Allied Matters Act
- A Mining Co-operative.
- Any person extracting construction materials for the construction of roads, railway lines, dams and other engineering works or structures of public interest.
• Water Use Permit:
- A holder of the Exploration Licence, Mining Lease or Quarry Lease at the time that the water right granted will be used or
- An applicant for a Mining Lease, Small Scale Mining Lease or Quarry Lease for which the water right will be required to be used.

It takes a maximum of 30 working days to process applications for the grant of Permits and Licences and 45 working days to process applications for grant of Leases.

Visit the site of interest, take the coordinate of the area, and present the coordinates to any NMCO nearest to you. The Information Officer will enter the coordinate(s) into the NMCO data base, which is displayed on the screen where you can see if the area is free or not at the time of checking.

Click www.miningcadastre.gov.ng

Click www.miningcadastre.gov.ng

Click www.miningcadastre.gov.ng

• Ensure that you pay the prescribed annual service fee yearly (Section 11, NMMA, 2007)
• Ensure that you submit quarterly progress report of (Mining) activities on the site to the office
• Ensure that 3months before the expiry date you submit an application for Renewal of your Licence or Lease, and 1month for Permits.
• Fulfil all works and environmental obligations.

You apply for Certified True Copy by: submitting an application addressed to the Director-General, NMCO stating the reason why the certificate got missing, attach an affidavit of missing documents from the court, attach photo copies of the certificate (if available), attach evidence of payment of the processing fee.

There are two ways of making payment on eMC+

• When submitting a New Mineral Title Application; commence the process of application submission, when you get to payment, click on remita, fill in your credit card details, make the payment, submit; an RRR code will be sent to your email
• 2. When making Annual service fee payment, login to your eMC+ account, select the Mineral Title payment is being made for, click on Annual Service Fee payment, click on remita, fill in your credit card details, make the payment, submit; an RRR code will be sent to your email

Send a mail to: info@miningcadastre.gov.ng

You can call: +2348164101937

Phone No. +2348164101937

Website: www.mining cadaster.gov.ng

Address: No. 37 Lobito Crescent Wuse II, Abuja.

1 Cu covers an area of 0.2Km2 (20.25Hectares)

In accordance with the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Regulations (NMMR), 2011, applications for exclusive Licences and leases must be submitted in conformity with the allowed Geometric shapes of polygons and must be regular and parallel to the coordinate system used in National Topographic maps. The polygons should have a minimum dimension which is called the Cadastre Unit, also simply referred to as a square.

The maximum area of the Mineral Titles shall not exceed the following:

• Exploration Licence (EL) - not more than 200km2, that is 930CU
• Mining Lease (ML) – not more than 50km2 that is 250CU
• Quarry Lease (QL) - not more than 5km2, that is 25 CU
• Small Scale Mining Lease (SSML)- not more than 3km2, that is 15CU

The requirements for the renewal of Mineral Titles can be obtained on the office website; www.miningcadastre.gov.ng, under download additional documents and form link.

The processing fee to conduct due diligence can be obtained on the office websites; www.miningcadastre.gov.ng, click on the link download additional documents and form.

The requirements for the consolidation and Conversion of Mineral Titles can be found on the office website; www.miningcadastre.gov.ng, click on the link download additional documents and form

Yes, it is mandatory, that all application documents be submitted in triplicates; two for official purpose, one is acknowledgment copy for the applicant.

The fees for additional cadastre units can be obtained on the website; www.miningcadastre.gov.ng, click on the link Guidelines on Mineral Title Application.

Yes, you can submit your application at the zonal offices provided your coordinates fall within that Geo-political zone.

You can do it yourself, however you must take the hard copy either physically or by mail to any of the zonal offices close to you.

Yes, you can submit your application at the zonal offices provided your coordinates fall within that Geo-political zone.

You can do it yourself, however you must take the hard copy either physically or by mail to any of the zonal offices close to you.

A notification is sent to the email of the Applicant/ Title Holder, that the grant/ licence is ready for collection; that is why Applicants/ Title holders are encouraged to provide a functional email address at the time of registration.

The zonal offices are located in the six geo-political zones of Nigeria:

• North- East (NE)- Borno (Zonal Office),Adamawa,Bauchi,Gombe,Taraba, and Yobe
• North- Central (NC) – Plateau (Zonal Office), Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger
• iii. North- West (NW) - Kaduna ( Zonal Office), Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamafara
• South- East (SE) - Enugu (Zonal Office), Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo
• South- South (SS) - Benin ( Zonal Office), Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross- River, Rivers, Delta
• South- West (SW) - Ibadan (Zonal Office), Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun