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LRC PRESENTS MINES & MINERALS REPORT |
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Tuesday, 25 March 2008 |
Tags:
mining,
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In his welcome address, Dr. Peter Tucker said he was happy to see the invitees who were selected to hear the report and ask questions that would be answered by the presenters and the chairman.
Dr. Tucker pointed out that the Mines and Minerals Project report
was compiled in October 2007 with the then Minister of Mineral
Resources, Mohamed Swarray-Deen which was to be launched at a future
date.
He intimated his audience that this brief report was only meant for a
small section of the press, Consultative Committee members and those
who have special interest in the Law Reform Commission activities.
He said that the powers that be would set a future date for the
launching of the programme in a more expansive way. He also said that
as Chairman of the Law Reform Commission, he had confidence that the
Commission members and other stakeholders had done their best to
produce the Mines and Minerals Project report.
Dr. Peter Tucker said that the report was the work of experts and that
all of them in the Commission in one way or the other have been
involved in this project.
He reiterated that the best people for the work were recruited for the
compilation of this report and that he himself was very much at the
forefront of the exercise.
He intimated the audience that from the days of the Sierra Leone
Selection Trust (SLST) seventy five years ago, they had all tried to
break the monopoly in the mines and minerals activities in Sierra Leone
because as he puts it, “mining is the second most important activity in
Sierra Leone after agriculture.”
He said that the existing mining laws were not inherently bad but
contained some flaws which needed to be weeded out, guided by the
policy of best practice and must be compatible in the four regions.
Chairman Tucker said that to achieve their goal in the Mines and
Minerals Act, consultations were held all round the country with large
and small groups where papers were presented adding that the issue of
dredging required extensive consultations.
Following the Chairman’s closing remarks, presentations were made by
two gentlemen and a lady.
In the first presentation, Mr. Andrew Kaili reported on the overview of
the Mines and Minerals Report extensively and his presentation was
followed by Mr. Andre Hope Esq. who made a presentation on the
marketing of alluvial diamonds.
The third presentation was made by Ms Martina Kroma who presented her
report based on the draft Mines and Minerals Bill 2007.
The draft Mines and Minerals Bill contained provisions for the creation
of a development fund which would be given to chiefdom authorities
where the mining activities take place for the purpose of development
of the chiefdom.
It also contained portions for the payment of collateral by the miners
to the government which can be used for the rehabilitation of the mined
out places if those who are engaged in the mining and are licensed as
such fail to rehabilitate the land after the mining activities had
stopped.
These two were considered as very important and people centred as the
development fund would some how compensate the chiefdom people in those
areas the mining activity is done and the collateral was seen as a
mechanism to compel miners to rehabilitate the mined sites or the land
when the mining activity stops so that in a few years time, that once
wasted land could be available to the community people for agricultural
and other purposes.
Members of the fourth estate and members of the Consultative Committee
asked questions which were answered by the presenters of the report
ably assisted by the Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Peter Tucker.
After a healthy exchange between the Commission and its guests, the
meeting ended with a vote of thanks rendered by M. A. B. Timbo Esq.,
Secretary to the Consultative Committee who thanked the Law Reform
Commission for a job well done at compiling the report and to the
committee members and the members of the fourth estate who had made it
possible to hold a healthy exchange of ideas in respect of the Mines
and Minerals Project.
Mr. Timbo was assisted by Ms Pamela Davies, a Consultative Committee
member and Executive Secretary of the Law Reform Commission who helped
in making the meeting a success in more ways than one.
The
New Citizen Publications
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