African Minerals Ltd will invest more
than $300-million to develop a deep-water port and reinvigorate Sierra
Leone's railway over the next two years, its chairperson said in an
interview.
African Minerals, formerly known as Sierra Leone Diamond Company Ltd, is listed on London's junior AIM exchange.
The development, which includes upgrading the defunct narrow gauge
railway to standard gauge, will link the company's two iron-ore mines
in the north of the country to the deep-water port site at Pepel, 180
km away.
"It will happen. We should start next month," chairperson Frank Timis told Reuters late on Sunday at a reception for visiting Irish singer and anti-poverty campaigner Bob Geldof, attended by ministers and the country's first lady, Alice Sia Koroma.
African Minerals, which last year made a net loss of $42,3-million, has
a combination of prospecting, exploration and mining licences for 57
percent of the former British colony's total land mass, but has said it
will soon relinquish about half of that.
"The railway hasn't
worked since the 1970s so this is big," said Timis, who has a 26,3
percent share of the company. "It will be finished within 18 to 22
months, depending on the supply of steel from countries like India,
China, Ukraine and Romania."
The two iron-ore sites are a 209 km2
concession at Tonkolili in the north of the country about 180 km from
Pepel, and a larger site nearer to the port at Marampa, which operated
for about 30 years until it closed in 1970.
"We estimate
conservatively that it's potentially over two-billion tons," said Timis
of the Tonkolili site. Timis said the iron-ore mine had an expected
lifespan of 40 to 60 years, and would be operating within three to four
years once the infrastructure, including a power plant, is in place.
"We have invested $110 million since it started in 2003. The whole
thing will cost more than $3 billion. We have the backers," said Timis,
a one-time Romanian refugee now living in London.
Singer and
poverty campaigner Bob Geldof, who flew in on the company's private
plane for his first visit to the country, said the investment could
make a huge difference to the economic outlook of the West African
state, ranked the world's least developed by the UN.
"If
Frank is going to build a modern railway and with the port now
functioning then it should be a matter of urgency to connect up with
the people and agricultural exports. That way they can grow their rice
and transport it for the export market. If it's a deal of mutuality,
I'm there," said Geldof.
In addition to iron ore, African
Minerals is also exploring for nickel-cobalt, uranium and gold at other
sites throughout the country and last year exported 18 071,45 carats of
diamonds with a value of $8,5-million from two sales.
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