BEN-BEN TOWN – The Ministry of Mines and Energy has announced that resolving the long-running mining dispute in Ben-Ben Town will depend on the application of cloud technology through UTM-Coordinates to verify the rightful owner of the contested mining pit.
Deputy Minister for Operations William Hines, who chaired a fact-finding meeting in the town on Sunday, March 30, 2025, told residents that a technical team would be dispatched to conduct the verification process. The Ministry’s decision follows the submission of two conflicting mining licenses, both claiming ownership of the disputed site.
Hines explained that the cloud-based system, which utilizes Google Maps technology, would allow authorities to determine the exact coordinates and boundaries of the mining area. In addition to the UTM verification, the Ministry plans to conduct a re-survey of the meets and bounds as reflected on both licenses.
This latest intervention comes after Minister of Mines and Energy Wilmot Paye met with two citizens’ groups from Ben-Ben Town on March 23, 2025. The groups appealed for a resolution, arguing that the Ministry’s moratorium on mining, imposed in November 2024 due to violence, had left many struggling economically. The dispute previously escalated into deadly confrontations, resulting in two deaths, multiple injuries, and significant property damage.
Deputy Minister Hines led a team of Ministry officials, including Assistant Minister for Mines Carlos Edison Tingban, Deputy Inspector General Adolphus Gleekia, and Mining Agent Henry Yates, to assess the situation on the ground. With cloud technology now at the center of the resolution process, the Ministry hopes to bring an end to the unrest that has plagued the community for months.
