Arcelor Mittal expresses concerns over Status of Third Amended Mineral Development Agreement with Liberian government
ArcelorMittal Liberia has reacted to report of the rejection of the Third Amended Development Agreement by the House of Representatives.
The MDA was signed by President George Weah and the chairman of Arcelor Mittal worldwide, Laskmi Mittal in anticipation of extending the Company’s operations for additional fifteen years.
The USD$800 Million agreement appears to have suffered severe setback after the House of Representatives could not agree with Senate version.
The Senate has earlier passed on the agreement giving hope to Arcelor Mittal for the fifteen years extension, but the decision of the House of Representatives to reject the agreement has furthered drop the hope of the Company, thus expressing concern about the status of the agreement.
Before the rejection, there has been serious opposition from the public mainly the people of Nimba County to the ratification of the agreement by the Legislature on grounds that the Company has reneged on the full implementation of the 1st and 2nd MDA at the detriment of the Country and people.
This triggered a wide spread public relation campaign by the Company to dilute public reaction to the deal and do image building.
However, Arcelor Mittal has insisted that the agreement is good and beneficiary to the People of Liberia and re-echoed its commitment to deliver project which will bring unrivalled and extensive economic and social benefits to the country for decades to come.
The Company said for now, it is awaiting all facts related to the actions by the Legislature before it will make any further statement on this matter.
The new amended version of Arcelor Mittal Liberia Mineral Development Agreement seeks to provide more jobs for more than 2000 skilled and unskilled workers.
House Speaker Bhofal Chambers described the decision taken by the House plenary as the ‘greatest achievement to humanity after the bill was rejected by them on Monday during a special session.
New iron ore company favor?
Some political pundits told Liberia Public Radio that the latest rejection is intended to favor a new mining; High Power Exploration (HPX), an exploration company opting to carry out iron ore development in Nimba-Guinea Mountains.
Last November, HPX and the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) announced on its website that pre-feasibility study for the Nimba Iron Ore Project was positive and encouraging.
HPX is a privately-owned, U.S.-domiciled mineral exploration and development company while SMFG is a Guinean incorporated mining company. SMFG is an 85% owned subsidiary of High Power Exploration (HPX).
The Nimba Iron Ore project, is the innovation of U.S.-Canadian investor Robert Friedland who acquired HPX in 2019.
The company expects eventual production of up to 30 million tons a year with construction forecast set to begin in 2023.
The project is located in the Guinean Nimba Mountains, in south-eastern Guinea, adjacent to the Liberian and Ivoirian borders.
However, the project will depend hugely on Liberia’s Port of Buchanan for export.
A pre-feasibility study done by the company estimated total project development costs at $2.77 billion and direct capital costs for rail and port development in Liberia at more than $600 million.
