According to the report, illegal mining accounted for the largest amount among the irregularities highlighted by the audit.
The report also identified failures to recover outstanding dues from leaseholders and contractors, as well as losses linked to joint venture profits and the undercharging of rent for government land.
Leaseholders’ unpaid dues resulted in a reported loss of Rs810 million, while the failure to deposit joint venture profits caused a further loss of Rs580 million to the provincial government.
The report said outstanding dues of Rs4.31 billion could not be recovered from defaulting contractors.
It also identified a loss of Rs140 million due to the collection of unusually low rent for government land.
The audit report uses the term financial irregularities to describe matters flagged for examination. Such findings do not, by themselves, establish corruption or prove that any individual or organisation is guilty of wrongdoing.
The available information does not include the Minerals Department’s response to the audit objections or specify the financial year covered by the report.
The amounts detailed in the available information total approximately Rs13.84 billion, leaving around Rs3.10 billion of the reported Rs16.94 billion in irregularities unexplained in the figures provided.
