Sierra Leone to boost mining with 20mn
The Vice President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Hon. Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, on behalf of His Excellency Rtd Brigadier, Julius Maada Bio launched the second phase of the Extractive Industries Technical Assistance Project (EITAP 2) at the Miatta Conference Center in Freetown. This is a US $20 million project supported by the World Bank to improve the minerals sector in Sierra Leone.
Delivering the keynote address at the ceremony, Hon Vice President Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh expressed government’s profound gratitude to the World Bank for their tremendous support to the government and people of Sierra Leone over the years, noting that the transformation of extractive resource wealth to tangible development outcomes can only be achieved through effective governance of the mining sector, while taking into cognizance the need to mitigate the adverse environmental and social impact.
He explained that the fourth generation Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP IV) will lay out Government’s broad strategy for optimizing benefits from the extractive sector to go beyond royalties and taxes, and will include sustainable livelihoods for the mining communities.
In his statement, the Hon Minister of Mines and Mineral Resources, Dr Morie Manyeh said that Sierra Leone is blessed with an abundance of mineral wealth ranging from precious minerals such as diamonds and gold to sand based and other types of minerals including rutile, iron ore, zircon, coltan, etc.
In his statement, the Director General National Minerals Agency (NMA), Sahr Wonday said that the World Bank has tremendously supported the minerals sector in Sierra Leone over the years, from which the Agency has benefitted significantly.
Sahr Wonday noted that the World Bank’s support to improving the regulation and efficiency of Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners also offered exciting prospects for Sierra Leone. He explained that artisanal mining takes place in over 80 chiefdoms in Sierra Leone, and it partially or completely supports 200,000 miners and their families directly and many more individuals who either work in other aspects of the industry or who benefit from standard multiplier effects.
