By Mabinty M. Kamara
Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources, Foday Rado Yokie, has said that he had no regret in revisiting mining agreements signed by the previous government.
A defiant Mr Yokie said he would review any such agreement found not to be in the interest of the people of Sierra Leone.
“I have no regret to revisit any agreement that is not for the people of Sierra Leone. Why do you renegotiate your salary with your boss? Is it wrong? No. But you think what you were paid five years ago cannot meet your demands, so is the people of Sierra Leone,” Mr Yokie told journalists on Thursday at the weekly press briefing of the Ministry of Information and Communication.
He added: “The people of Sierra Leone have always renegotiated from the position of weakness, but the narrative has to change. It has to change under the New Direction.”
Yokie’s comments comes amidst public debate over the decision by the government to cancel the mining license of the US miner, Gerald Group, which operated in the country under the name, SL Mining.
SL Mining operated one of the most lucrative iron ore reserves in the country, in Lunsar in Port Loko District.
The government had accused SL Mining for reneging on the agreement they signed.
But the company denied all the allegations. It subsequently filed a law suit at an international tribunal.
But Mr Yokie sounded dismissive about the implication of the legal actions against the government, insisting that his goal is to ensure that the country gets what it deserves from every agreement it goes into.
“For those who followed me in parliament, I have always opposed it and I have to stand by it that most of the agreements were never in the interest of the people of Sierra Leone and therefore we have to renegotiate them,” he said.
The action against SL Mining in October 2019 was part of a radical move taken by the government shortly after the appointment of Yokie, a former Parliamentarian for the Sierra Leone People’s Party, in office since 2018.
The SL Mining agreement was past shortly before elections. It has been criticized by accountability campaigners for been rushed through parliament without proper scrutiny.
The Chinese miner, Shandong, another leading iron ore miner, also had its license cancelled over a dispute over royalty payment and non-compliance with the nation’s mining laws. Shandong also went to court over the issue.
Those actions sparked mix reactions from Sierra Leoneans; while some praised it, others thought it was bad for a country desperately in need of investment.
But Julius Daniel Mattai, Director General of the National Minerals Agency (NMA), said the decisions were based on the interest of the country. He said on Thursday that he found no pleasure in seeing Sierra Leoneans lose their jobs, stressing that what they were doing was in the interest of the nation.
Mattai said they wanted to ensure that genuine investors were given the licenses.
“We have ensured steady improvements in the number of licenses issued for all categories. For example 1, 170 in 2018 to 1,495 in 2019, representing 28% increase. In 2020, we project an increase in the number of artisanal mining licenses to 1, 600. This will translate to an increase in productivity and employment in artisanal mining areas,” he explained.
“We currently have 15 large scale mining companies in the country. Four of these mining companies are currently operational - Sierra Rutile (mineral sands) in Moyamba District, Sierra Mineral Holdings (bauxite) in Moyamba District, Koidu Limited (Diamond) in Kono District, and Duyu Mining Limited (gold concentrate) in Tonkolili District,” he added.
Mattai went on to say that two large scale mining licenses were issued in 2019 to Wongor Investment Mining Limited (Gold) in Kono District and Meya Mining Limited (diamonds) in Kono District. He added that both companies had completed their plants installation and intended to commence full mining operations by the third quarter this of 2020.
“Once fully operational, these two companies will provide over 3,000 employments for Sierra Leoneans,” he assured.
The government is currently reviewing the Mines and Minerals laws.
Minister Yokie said because the nation was not satisfied with certain agreements, especially so with the fiscal regime, he thought it fit for the 2009 Mines and Minerals Act to be reviewed, so that it reflects the views of all stakeholders and in the interest of the nation. He also said that a new policy will be added to the reviewed document.
“We have given a lot of tax holidays. I don’t want to name companies, but I think we are disadvantaged. The only way that we can move as a nation is for us to revisit all the fiscal regimes. We are not saying we are not given any duty weaver, but consciously now, so at the end of the day the investor wins and us as a nation win,” he said.
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