Monrovia – A FrontPageAfrica Investigation into the bid by HPX to bully President Boakai to access the railroad to ship Guinean iron ore to the Port of Buchanan raises question of bad faith, bullying, lack of capacity, misrepresentation on $5bn broken promises on Liberty Corridor and improper use of ties to the American government.
By Rodney D. Sieh, [email protected]
HPX, a privately held American company that is developing the Nimba iron ore project in Liberia, unconnected to Ivanhoe Mines, a Toronto -listed mining company has sought to use the railroad operated by Arcelor Mittal to ship ores from its land locked iron ore mining project in Guinea. That effort has led to some nasty fighting between Arcelor Mittal and HPX, with certain government officials from all of Liberia’s postwar governments corralled in the impasse created by the infighting.
President Joseph Nyuma Boakai has sought to break the impasse by signing Executive order number 136 breaking the monopoly of Arcelor Mittal by creating a National Rail Authority to administer the railroad for the benefit of Liberia’s investors in mining and Agriculture. The Executive order did not break the impasse. Instead, supporters within the government from both sides of the nasty fight have sought to use relations with President Boakai to advance the interests of the adversaries.
Recently, Jeff Blibo, Chairman of the National Investment Commission announced that the Inter-Ministerial Concession Commission had voted to give Arcelor Mittal the continued unilateral rights to operate the railroad based on the existing agreement which will expire in 2030. But certain officials who are siding with Ivanhoe HPX within the Administration question the transparency and equity of the award. Currently there is no end in sight to the impasse and there is a meeting of the IMCC scheduled for May 6 following HPX Bronwyn Barnes volatile letter to the President.
Arcelor Mittal was granted a twenty-five-year concession agreement with the railroad and port from the old LAMCO concession as contribution of the Liberian government in what was to be joint venture with Arcelor Mittal’s stake at 70 percent and the Government of Liberia at 30 percent. For decades now, the railroad and port of Buchanan have been seen as the only financially viable option to ship ore from Simandou, Mt. Nimba and other ore bodies close to the Liberian border.
Building a railway from that part of Guinea to the port of Conakry was projected to cost billions of dollars and would make any iron ore project not viable. But times have changed, and the current Guinea government has begun to build a rail infrastructure to ship Guinean ore to a new port in Guinea.
An examination of the impasse shows that HPX may not be fully committed to its announced 5-billion-dollar Liberty Corridor. According to email exchanges in the possession of Frontpage Africa, Liberian government officials accuse HPX of bad faith, inability to raise monies for feasibility studies and outright rudeness to President Joseph Nyuma Boakai.
Other communication between HPX officials indicates the company claims to have raised only five million dollars for the five-billion-dollar multi projects of rail, road, fibre, energy transmission and a new deep-sea port announced by HPX Robert Friedland and Guma Robert Gumede. Mining experts say that is paltry and an insult to Liberia as a proper feasibility study will cost over $100m.
HPX has only committed to invest $5m from the USA government before the USA Senate Foreign Relations threw out the HPX application based on the fact that it is not an asset that fits a anti-China critical minerals quest. It would require hundreds of millions of dollars to conduct bankable feasibility and environmental impact studies for a project this size.
Another essential element exposed by examination is the security of tenure of HPX to the Nimba Range project and whether the project is viable utilizing the railroad. Some experts believe HPX aim is to move its ore from Nimba currently stockpiled in Guinea and that would be the end of their association with Liberia since Guinea is building its own railroad to ship ore from Simandou – Nimba and other areas near the Liberian border. Thus, the only objective of HP X would be to ship its stockpiled ore sitting at the mines in Guinea and not to support the creation of sustainable jobs, linkages, and promotion of socioeconomic development through the investment and implementation of the multi infrastructure Liberty Corridor of Liberia.
There have been other developments that indicate the lack of good faith on the part of HPX. The US Senate blocked the Liberian National Railway Authority funding citing the project as a grandiose scam without evidence of American economic and security interests. HPX commonly uses its Canadian / American ties to intimidate Liberian government officials.
In another development, South African businessman Robert Gumede a partner in the HPX project is said to be having second thoughts about HPX commitment to the Liberian government and have communicated his feelings to higher ups in the government. Sources say Pan African entrepreneur Mr. Robert Gumede has secured over 3.5 billion dollars from the African Development Bank for the project and more financiers who have been lined up to participate in the project.
It has been confirmed that HPX Bronwyn Barnes and Robert Friedland were very angry that Gumede raised the $3.5b announced in Kenya by the AFDB President Adesina in April 2024 in the presence of Liberia Ministers Mamaka Bility, Hon. Prince Tamba and Hon. Morley Kamara. This historic development was announced during the AFDB annual conference following the AFDB Board decision.
Experts urge the Liberian government to continue its path of a multiuser rail, but there must be clear commitment from local mining and agriculture companies who will commit to use the rail. The government intend to honor its contract with AML because of the investment made in the rail over the years. HPX intent to use Liberian rail temporarily, the government should get HPX not only to invest in the development of the Liberty Corridor by investing the seed capital that will cover 100% of the feasibility study.
HPX commitment to continue to use the new Liberty Corridor for the life of their Guinea iron ore mine to move their products through the Corridor and deep seaport. Further, the government should engage directly with the government of Guinea and understand the long-term plan of the Guinean Government to engage the Liberty Corridor plan to export the Nimba Iron ore through the Liberty Corridor. President Boakai should engage directly with his Guinean counterpart Brother President Mamadi Doumbouya and not rely on HPX propaganda. Doing otherwise would risk the economic benefits of the vaunted Liberty Corridor.
Some diplomatic observers say, President Boakai’s ruling Unity Party government must be wary of repeating the hard and painful lessons learnt from the colonial bias agreements which have robbed and raped Liberia for almost 100 years by Firestone and other business conglomerates which contributed to failed socio-economic stand still and environmental negative impact.
For the foreseeable future, some say, the government should be keen to protect well-meaning investors and not transit users like Guinea-based companies concerned mainly with creating jobs in Guinea and not Liberia.