January 12, 2021
Dear Editor
We bring you New Year greetings from Port Loko District. We are stakeholders concerned about the confusion over our natural resources the bauxite deposit that we are yet to exploit. We are passionately asking one thing of you to publish this letter not indicating anyone but asking burning questions that affects our district for a long time now. Last year we wrote a letter to President Julius Maada Bio concerning our decision to allow Sierramin Bauxite Limited that had over the years done serious work to start mining and create some economic advantage for our community- employment for our youthful population, among other things. However, for whatever reasons, we have later learnt that Vimetco is preferred by some people in the National Mineral Agency and Ministry of Mines and Mineral Resources for the Port Loko Bauxite Project. But now we have heard that Vimetco intends to sell its assets out to an unknown third party. It reminds us of the African Minerals and London mining scenario in 2014. African Minerals bought London Mining and that incident was only to the benefit of the investors, not us natives of the district and the country. If this is what is about to happen, is it not questionable to find out whether Vimetco had the capacity in the first place to have been preferred over Sierramin Bauxite Limited? What criteria were used by NMA and Ministry of Mines in their secret dealings with Vimetco to decide to turn over the Sierramin Bauxite Limited licence to them? We are also taken aback by a sex scandal allegation in a video posted on social media about one of the Russian bosses of Vimetco, said to have been harassing one Sierra Leonean staff. The lady is said to have refused the sexual advances and was sacked. We are curious to know what has become of that internal investigation that was claimed in the video to be ongoing? Thanking you for doing justice to this issue. May God Bless our efforts for national good in the New Year!
Yours Truly
Concerned Port Loko Stakeholders