June 15, 2021
By Dadson A. Musa
Sierra Leone is a tiny country along the west coast of Africa. It is blessed with some precious minerals such as diamond, rutile, gold, bauxite, ilmenite and zircon. Over the years the management of these minerals have been marred by exploitation, greed, corruption and bad governance. These minerals, if they had been properly harnessed and managed would have turned this country around for good.
Since the 1930s when diamonds were discovered in abundance it has been the most priced mineral of all time.
The country has been way below standards, in terms of technological and human capacity building.
Therefore, minerals have been sold in their raw form to foreign countries at next-to-nothing prices and the finished products sold back to us at sky-rocket prices.
Back then, our population was largely illiterate and education was a far-fetched dream for many indigenes. It was these mineral deposits that attracted foreigners to this country for which some have sought naturalization and become citizens.
The mining of these precious minerals has brought about land degradation, water pollution and youths becoming drop-outs in search of quick wealth. Farming became a second choice for most indigenes even when there had been vast farm land across the country. So we resorted to being importers of rice instead of exporters.
Youths were becoming more focused on gaining quick wealth than getting equipped for long term gains in life. For most youths, education was not important anymore. The realization dawned especially on youths who when displaced by the war from these mining communities, that there was need for them to either go back to school or college or do some much needed skills training.
Mining then brought about indiscriminate creation of dams, craters and earth moving that rendered vast portion of our fertile land barren.
People in mining areas who were subsistence farmers had land to farm on and were in turn never compensated for losing farm land. Mining laws were such that the indigenes had no recourse protection and benefitted very little from proceeds of mining in this country. A good chunk of the sales benefited mostly foreigners and some few corrupt and greedy politicians. The war took a gruesome dimension just because of our mineral deposits. Our minerals fueled arms trade. Instead of buying food and medicines, the minerals especially diamonds were used to buy guns by the fighting forces which were turned on innocent civilians who had no idea why the war raged.
Now with the geo-physical survey carried out and the report launched, something seems to be good in the air for Sierra Leoneans from our mineral deposits.
Mining laws are to be reviewed and that is signaling good things to come from our minerals. Our diamonds, rutile, bauxites, etc are among the best in the world. But after decades of mining, why a small country is still impoverished is bewildering to many.
Imagine people were licensed to explore but would for the rest of their life stay in this country to embark on mining on a large scale. They took advantage of the illiteracy of people in this country to mine minerals that they were never licensed for.
The manner in which exports of these minerals were carried out was dubious and questionable. It was like broad day-light robbery of a country that needed basic services such as electricity, good roads, water supply, etc.
Forgive me, if i sounded political but this geo-physical survey is a turning point in the mining and sale of our minerals in the history of this country. What turned out to be our curse is now going to be the blessing that God almighty gave us.