Ten different letters were sent by the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development's Zamfara office to various state and Federal agencies in Zamfara State warning them of the dangers of illegal mining activities before the recent incident of lead poisoning in the state that claimed the lives of hundreds of children in Anka and Bukkuyum local governments, Daily Trust learnt in Abuja yesterday.

The Zamfara State government however denied receiving any warning letters from the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development before the recent lead poisoning incident.

A sixty-seven page report from the Mines Inspectorate, a department of the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development obtained by Daily Trust shows that the alert letters were sent between 2007 and 2009.

The report also revealed that on June 7, 2010, three days after both local and international media first broke the news of the lead poisoning episode in which 160 lives were lost, a four man committee filed its 5-page report of findings on lead poisoning in the state.

The committee visited Dareta village, 58kms from Anka and about 104km from Gusau, where its members observed the ore containing lead, gold and some other materials transported from the illegal mines at Bagega village. Bagega is 68km away from Dareta, and the ores were brought by the miners to Dareta where the processing took place.

During their visit to Dareta, accompanied by the chief of the village Mallam Muhammad Bello, the committee was taken to the cemetery, where they counted 61 graves of young children of between 1 to 5 years who died because of the lead poisoning within the past 8 to 9 months.

At Yar Galma village, 10kms away from Bukkuyum in Bukkuyum local government area, which is about 158kms from Gusau, the committee was informed that 157 deaths were recorded in the village in the past 6 months, and 47 affected children were hospitalized.

The ten letters sent included the first one on May 14, 2007 addressed to the Commissioner of Police, Zamfara State requesting for police assistance to raid illegal mining sites discovered in Anka and Bukkuyum local government areas. This letter was followed by another one on the August 30, 2007 with the same request to raid illegal copper mines in Maradun local government.

The third letter, written on December 4, 2007 was in response to the letter from the Ministry's headquarters dated 15/11/2007 requesting for the investigation of illegal mining of gold and other precious minerals within Zamfara state. This according to the report led to the arrest of thirteen people involved "and the outcome is still being awaited up to date."

On 17/03/2008, a fourth letter sent to the office of the Director of Mines on illegal mining of lead, reported the mining in Dareta and Tamani village, Anka, and said the operation started since November, 2007. "This is the source of the ore which caused the recent lead poisoning."

Zamfara Mining Inspectorate Department wrote the fifth letter on the 19/06/2008 soliciting the help of police and SSS on illegal mining of manganese in Gurusu and Zugu Villages all in Bukkuyum local government.

Zamfara State governor Alhaji Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi received his own letter on 23/06/2008 titled "Illegal Mining Activities in Zamfara State." The letter drew the governor's attention to the illegal mining of lead, gold and other minerals in the state and sought the state government's help in containing it.

The letter highlighted among other things the effect of the operations to include "Health Hazards e.g. exposure to radioactive minerals and Lead Poisoning, which kills gradually."

The letter send to the governor also said "the effect of illegal mining include among others: economic sabotage, social hazards, health hazards, and environmental destruction."

The seventh letter was an up-date sent on 30/07/2008 to the police on illegal mining of manganese in Bukkuyum. It said "one (1) person was arrested by the Police and then taken to Federal High Court in Sokoto by the Police. We are yet to be notified by the Police on the outcome of the case."

The eighth and ninth letters were both sent on 30/07/2008, both to Police and to SSS on illegal mining going on in Wargawo and Maradun villages. Attached to them was a "Stop-Work-Order." A similar letter on 13/07/2009 reported illegal mining activities in Maradun local government to the Director of Mines.

Sources told Daily Trust that the state government's inability to respond adequately to the alerts was because several local notables including village and district heads as well as prominent merchants were involved in the illegal mining activities.

However, the Director of Press to the state governor Adamu Sani Katuru told Daily Trust yesterday that "there was no time when any of such purported letters was sent to the state government". He said before the poisoning incident, the ministry was not even aware that lead deposits exist in Zamfara state.

According to him, when the Minister of Mines and Steel Development Alhaji Musa Sada came to Zamfara in the aftermath of the poisoning incident, he expressed surprise that there was lead in the state and even said that if the Federal Government was aware of the mineral's existence, it would have found ways of exploiting it.

The Director also quoted the Minister as having said that had the mining of lead been formalised in the state with modern mining equipment, the poisoning incident wouldn't have occurred.

On the other hand, the state police command which was also said to be a recipient of the letters from the Mines ministry, refused to say whether or not it ever received any letters.

State commissioner of police Mohammed Abubakar referred our reporter to the public relations officer of the command Sanusi Amiru, who earlier promised to speak. But the latter told our reporter that the CP and himself were on tour of local governments in the state and will not comment on the issue.

It would be recalled that during this year's budget presentation in January, Governor Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi stated that there were over 10,000 illegal miners in the state and with the establishment of a Solid Minerals Processing Factory then under construction, the state government would incorporate the informal miners into the process of supplying the factory with raw materials.

When contacted yesterday, permanent secretary in the Mines Ministry, Engineer Musa Sheik Goni, who spoke through the ministry's assistant chief press secretary Stevin Kilabi, confirmed that "several letters had been written to Zamfara State government on the illegal mining activities going on in the state and its consequences."