By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
The nationwide airborne survey being of Sierra Leone’s mineral resource base has been suspended due to weather condition, officials of the National Minerals have said.
The airborne survey, which is being conducted by the South African firm Xcalibur Airborne Geophysics (XAG), is part of implementation of the second phase of a World Bank funded Extractive Industries Technical Assistance project.
The survey commenced in January with a landmark inauguration of President Julius Maada Bio. The objective is to help determine the full extent of the country’s mineral potentials with the view of attracting foreign direct investment in the minerals sector.
Officials of the National Minerals Agency (NMA) say in spite of the delay, 75 percent of the project which involves data collection has been completed.
NMA said in a statement shared with Politico that the advent of the rains will distort radiometric survey readings and affect pilot and aircraft survey. It added that the survey is scheduled to recommence in October with the aim of completing the remaining 25% of work within two months.
The survey is being conducted by specialized aircrafts equipped with medium solution radiometric technology that fly at an altitude of 50m and in straight lines at 150m line spacing nationwide.
It is hoped that this survey would provide useful information on the types of minerals that exist in the country as well as their quantity, indicative value and location. Officials say possession of such information will also put government in a strong position when negotiating mining concessions with prospective investors and other interested parties in the mineral sector.
Prince Cuffey, Director of Geological Survey at the NMA, said the idea was conceived out of the urgent need to address the huge gap in geological knowledge that was affecting the development of the minerals sector.
“The previous department of geological survey suffered from neglect over the years which limited the ability to collect geological information to the extent that the NMA directorate of survey started on almost zero baseline,” Cuffey said. This situation, he added, caused government to prioritize the geological data as a major strategic objective.
During the commissioning ceremony of the survey at the Presidential Lounge at Lungi Airport, President Bio recalled his earlier commitment to transforming the minerals sector to ensure that it delivers maximum benefits for the people of Sierra Leone.
“No government can get a good deal from the exploitation of its minerals if it does not have and control geological information,” the President said. He pointed out that unlocking the potentials of the mineral sector for economic growth and transformational development required accurate geological information.
“My administration is determined to depart from the failed policies of the private sector led geo-data acquisition to a government driven geo-data acquisition agenda,” he stressed.
© 2019 Politico Online
