By Hajaratu Kalokoh
The Sierra Leone government has announced that up to 30 South African investors have announced plans to explore opportunities in mining and electricity in the country.
The announcement comes following President Julius Maada Bio’s engagement on the sidelines of the Africa Mining Indaba.
Mining Indaba is Africa’s leading mining investment forum and it is taking place in Cape Town, South Africa.
The annual conference seeks to unite investors, mining companies, government and other stakeholder across the world to learn and network, all geared towards the single goal of advancing mining on the continent.
The South African Minister of Energy, Jeffrey Thamsanqa Radebe, said they were planning to organize a delegation of investors to Sierra Leone as soon as they get a date from the government in Freetown.
Thamsanqa Radebe further told President Bio in South Africa that the potential partners would be interested in small grid power, off-grid power and large scale mining.
“Mr. Radebe, who served as Minister in the Presidency from 2014 to 2018 after having worked as Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development from 2009 to 2014, said to help them finalize the team, they would need to know about projects in those areas of interest and what the country’s policy around private-public partnership was,” a statement from the Communications Unit at State House states.
Jeff Couch, Director at the Orion Resources Partners, a global alternative investment management firm, noted in the statement that the meeting was to get an idea of investment opportunities in the country.
“We have accepted this meeting to better understand the investment opportunities within the Sierra Leone mining sector. Our specific interest is in base and precious metal opportunities,” he said.
President Bio, in his keynote address on Monday during the conference, emphasized that Sierra Leone needed trustworthy mining partners.
Akinwole Omoboriowo II, a UK trained specialist in electricity prices and modelling, said they looked forward to opportunities in developing power plants that utilize numerous fossil fuels such as gas, diesel, HFO and renewable fuel sources such as hydro.
Sierra Leone’s economy depends largely on the mining sector. The lack of major mining activity in the country in recent years has affected the economy. The country also has a huge challenge with electricity supply.
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