Sierra Leone News: Geoscientists discuss diamond industry

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Diamonds have been mined in Sierra Leone since the 1930s. “It is going to be exhausted one day as there are over 300,000 people on it”, said Andrew K. Kaili, Executive Director of CEMMATS. Since the 30’s over 50 million carats of diamond have been mined. “The reserves are dwindling because of the way diamonds are formed,” Kaili added. Diamonds are one of the many minerals found in Sierra Leone and has for over the years been regarded as one of the major sources of the country’s economy Sierra Leone is one of the largest producers of titanium, bauxite and gold; Sierra Leone’s economy, however, is predominantly based on diamonds. Despite the utilization of its natural resources, 70% of Sierra Leone’s population live in poverty. Official diamond production dropped precipitously from an annual production of 2 million carats in 1970 to less than 200,000 carats in 1984. In fact, official export as of 1984 was only 190,000 carats amounting to US$30 million. A total of 347,070 carats were exported in the first 6 months of 2016 according to data presented in the monthly Economic Review of the Bank of Sierra Leone. Gemstones amounted to 304,460 carats and the rest were industrial diamonds. According to Section 148 (1 and 2) of the Mines and Mineral Act of 2009, “the holder of a mineral right shall pay to the Government royalty in respect of any mineral obtained by him pursuant to his mineral right… the following percentage… (a) 15% for special stones, defined as those precious stones whose market value is above five-hundred thousand United States Dollars; (b) 6.5% for precious stones; (c) 5% for precious metals; (d) 3% for all other minerals”. However, bad mining laws, illegal smuggling, lack of mining equipment, poor capacity of local miners, the lack of institutional structures for the processing of diamonds, among others, has left the country with few options. The Sierra Leone Institution of Geoscientist (SLIG) a body of professional geoscientist, converged at Santano House in Freetown, last Tuesday, to discuss the current state of diamond mining in the country; review mining policies to see the reasonable aspect, the not so reasonable aspects of the policies that effectively undermine the benefit to the individual and the country; and proffer solutions on how revenue collected from this mineral could be beneficial to the public. The topic was, “Gem 709 and its implications for national mineral policy – The Fair, The Foul and The Sensible”. Professor V.E.H. Strasser-King (Senior Policy Adviser, SPU), Andrew K. Kaili (Executive Director, CEMMATS) and Geo Alieu Mahdi (Managing Director, Geo-Resources Ltd.) were the panelists during the discussion. The panelists said, “Accessing diamonds is no longer an easy task as it demands a more mechanised method. What is left is the secondary deposit, which lies along deep river beds. There is no way people can get to the gravel level by manual methods. They have to use mechanical means to access the gravel.” In addition to the demand for mechanised mining, the panelists disclosed that the country lacks facilities to process the diamonds and miners are not trained to put value on large stones. “The issue of capacitating miners is a problem. There is also an overlap in the mining laws”, the panelists added. They suggested, “We should revisit the business of cutting and polishing, which could increase tax revenue for the government.” In addition, they suggested geo-science and location data be created which would demarcate the area in a particular chiefdom where people should mine. The panelists also suggested that, environmental issues; working conditions of mine workers; women and children in mining; the issue of transparency; monitoring of operations; conflict mitigation; local leakages and value addition be revisited in order to bring benefit to the people. Members of the audience also made suggestions on how the mining industry could be improved. Emmanuel Turay, a geologist, suggested that the government as well as legal practitioners should come on board to address the controversies that are within the various mineral policies. Dr. Kelvin Anderson, lecturer in the Geology Department at Fourah Bay College, also suggested that a cutting and polishing industry be established to enhance the “the revenue we get from our diamonds”. By Edna Smalle Tuesday April 12, 2017.

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