Monrovia – The framers of the Liberian constitution were clear in Articles 22, 7, 8 and 18, which prohibits individuals or groups from demanding jobs based on tribal or county consideration. However, the steel giant, ArcelorMittal appears to be on the verge of conceding to an unknown group, Nimba Education Guide, who for the past few weeks have been threatening to stage protests in demand of jobs for citizens of the county.
Report by Rodney D. Sieh, [email protected]
The group is demanding, among other things, that ArcelorMittal shoulder the responsibility of rehabilitating the Yamein Road once every year and give select senior and other positions to Namibians — especially skilled jobs like the heads of Mine, Community Relations, among others.
The group is also demanding that Nimba-based companies be given the same opportunity to apply for contracts at ArcelorMittal Liberia and that all local contracts such as catering and other services be given to exclusively to Nimbaians.
Industry observers say pushing the company to adhere to these demands will set a dangerous precedence for one of the country’s major investors and may invite other project-affected counties – Bong and Grand Bassa where the company also operates – to issue similar threats and demands.
The Ministry of Justice, which is the legal organ of the government, and the Ministry of Labor were not informed, nor were they invited to the meeting.
THE RIGHT TO OWN:
Although many citizens are unsure about ArcelorMittal’s motive for agreeing to a secret meeting hosted by the Ministry of Mines & Energy last Friday, August 14, 2020, the timing raised a lot of red flags about why one of the world’s biggest steel companies would chose to do so.
Article 7 of the constitution states: “The Republic shall, consistent with the principles of individual freedom and social justice enshrined in this Constitution, manage the national economy and the natural resources of Liberia in such manner as shall ensure the maximum feasible participation of Liberian citizens under conditions of equality as to advance the general welfare of the Liberian people and the economic development of Liberia.”
Article 8: “The Republic shall direct its policy towards ensuring for all citizens, without discrimination, opportunities for employment and livelihood under just and humane conditions, and towards promoting safety, health and welfare facilities in employment.”
Article 18: “All Liberian citizens shall have equal opportunity for work and employment regardless of sex, creed, religion, ethnic background, place of origin or political affiliation, and all shall be entitled to equal pay for equal work.”
Article 22 states: “Every person shall have the right to own property alone as well as in association with others; provided that only Liberian citizens shall have the right to own real property within the Republic; Private property rights, however, shall not extend to any mineral resources on or beneath any land or to any lands under the seas and waterways of the Republic. All mineral resources in and under the seas and other waterways shall belong to the Republic and be used by and for the entire Republic.”
The meeting held in the absence of the government ministries tasked with dealing with such matters is also drawing scrutiny to recent mining activities in the county and the 4-G speed at which the Ministry of Mines & Energy have been proceeding.
ARCELORMITTAL ‘s RELUCTANCE RAISING EYEBROWS:
Compounding the problem, FrontPageAfrica has gathered, is rapidly growing concerns that ArcelorMittal’s reluctance to push a harder line on the issue with protesters, is partly due to a number of breaches associated with the Mineral Development Agreement (MDA), as well as m, the mysterious political entanglements of Solway Mining Incorporated, which was recently granted rights to carry out a three- years exploration on Detton and Mbelle mountains in Nimba, despite ArcelorMittal’s MDA agreement , which includes minerals rights to the two mountain.
Last month, on July 28, 2020, the Liberian Government, in a rather strange move, through the Ministry of Mines and Energy formally presented Solway Mining Liberia Incorporated to the residents of the district.
Solway is claiming Liberian ownership but very little is known about the owners amid recent pressure from the Nimba Education Guide. Who are the hidden hands behind the group? Who’s financing the Nimba Education Guide’s pressure to wrestle the Mbelle Mountain away from ArcelorMittal? More importantly, who in the government is likely to benefit from the exploration license issued by the Ministry of Mines and Energy?
The company is said to be a subsidiary of Solway Industries Limited that has been licensed by the Liberia Government to undertake iron ore exploration to ascertain the existence, location, quantity and quality of commercial value of deposits in the exploration area that covers approximately 56 Sq.Km defined by the UTM coordinates of Spatial Reference.
Mr. Boimah Alford Morgan is listed as the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), while Theo Dennis is listed as Comptroller.
The granting of an exploration license to the company by the Liberian Government means Solway will explore Mount Mbelle located in Zor Clan, Nimba Third Electoral District and Mount Detton in Sehyi Clan, Nimba Second Electoral District; two areas where significant portions falls within the ArcelorMittal Concession Areas, according to the company.
Recently, ArcelorMittal, in a communication to Solway dated June 26, 2020, Informed the company that it has unlawfully entered upon and engaged in exploration activities in an area overlapping the concession area in Nimba County granted by the Government of Liberia to AML pursuant to the Mineral Development Agreement dated August 17, 2005.
AML explained that it has exclusive rights from the government on the former LAMCO concession pursuant to the MDA.
THE FIGHT FOR MINING RIGHTS:
ArcelorMittal further informed Solway Mining that the granting of any concession, license, permit, authorization, consent or else to a party other than ArcelorMittal in its capacity of concessionaire under the MDA, which would overlap with the Concession Area, would be and is in clear violation of AML’s rights regarding the MDA.
Mittal has threatened that if Solway Mining persist and proceed with any unlawful activities, AML will have no choice but to defend its prior and prevailing rights.
Such action could drag Liberia and AML in a lengthy legal wrangle that could take years to resolve and put hundreds of Liberians working on the mines out of work.
The mystery surrounding the political entanglements stems from the insistence from Deputy Minister for Operations at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Emmanuel Sherman, during the recent presentation of Solway to the county, that there in fact, two major Iron Ores companies that have been granted mineral rights in the county – ArcelorMittal and Solway.
According to Deputy Minister Sherman, ArcelorMittal Liberia has a ‘Class A’ mining license that came out of a Mineral Development Agreement that gave them the right to mine Direct Ship Ores (DSO), while Solway Mining Incorporated has been given an exploration license to explore Mount Mbelle and Mount Detton for the period of three years. How’s, ArcelorMittal insists that both Mbelle and Mount Detton are under their umbrella,per the MDA.
Where it gets tricky is when the government through the Mines and Energy Ministry continue to spin the line that both companies are legitimate and none has the right to ask the other to leave, except the government ,who is the owner of the mountains on which they are operating; adding that both concession areas are define by coordinates and it is impossible for either side to overlap.
Said Sherman recently: “No company owns mountain in Liberia. All the mountains are own by the Government of Liberia. All of the companies have right to operate, right to mine, and right to explore, so ownership, no! We have licensed Arcelor Mittal to mine the iron ore for twenty five years; we have also licensed Solway to check for commercial quantity of iron ore under the exploration license. So both companies are legitimately operating in Nimba and so no one the right to ask the other to leave.”
On the contrary, Solway officials told residents of Nimba recently that the company is not only in Liberia for iron ore but to explore other areas. “We are not only here for iron ore, but we will also looking in other areas. We have not come to just grab the DSO and go and leave the community. We want to venture into areas that will bring meaningful benefits to our fellow Liberians. One of the advantages we have over other mining companies in Liberia is that we have Liberians holding a good percentage of shares and so you know obviously we are going to push for Liberia. It is time for our resources to benefit us,” the company’s comptroller, Dennis said at the program, presenting the company to the county.
LONG, DRAWN OUT LEGAL WRANGLING LIKELY
So, where does this leave ArcelorMittal’s contention? Industry observers aren’t so sure; but it is looking increasingly likely that Liberia could be drawn out into a lengthy legal wrangle with the steel giant.
Under Section 2.3 of the Provisions of the New Minerals and Mining Law of 2000, “Holders of Mineral Rights shall acquire ownership of and title to the Minerals they extract by Mining pursuant to this law.”
Section 5.3 (a). ArcellorMittal is saying they already have license for the area.
Exploration License does not require Legislative approval, only a mining license. A mining license is granted after exploration and declaration of a production area.
Section 5.3 states: “The minister, upon receipt of an application from a person who is an eligible applicant for a Class A. Mining License as defined herein Chapter 6 of this law shall grant such person and Exploration License for an area applied for, provided the mineral rights have not been granted to another person, subject to the following terms and conditions; That the area shall not already be subject to a valid mineral right granted to another person,; that government and the eligible applicant shall have concluded an Exploration Agreement, or other agreement, which has become effective, pursuant to the terms, covering the area applied for; that the Holder of the Exploration License shall have the exclusive right to conduct Exploration work in the area granted and covered under the terms of the Exploration Licensee; that the Holder shall submit a proposed exploration program to the Mjnister within ninety days after the issuance of an exploration of the Exploration license; that the Holder shall commence exploration within one hundred and eighty days after the issuance of an Exploration License unless the Minister agrees to a longer period; that the initial terms of the Exploration License shall be not more than three years and it may be extended for a single two year term upon the written application of a Holder who has fulfilled its work and expenditure obligations under the proposed exploration program and otherwise complied with the Law and the Regulation; that provided the Exploration License Holder does not choose to keep all or a portion of the area he has explored for mining purposes, the Exploration License shall automatically terminate at the expiry of its term; unless for good cause and the Minister otherwise agree to a different schedule in keeping with 5.3.
THE CRUX OF THE MATTER
For ArcelorMittal, the crux of the matter is that it has an MDA agreement that was ratified by the Legislature for the area; meaning the MDA section 5.3 (a) states: “You cannot give license for an area with prior mining rights. This is the issue – and the of contention. Legal observers say, owning or not owning mountain is not the issue because Section 2.3 says what rights are acquired by holder of a mining right/license. That is what ArcellorMittal is maintaining. That is the crux of the matter.
Ironically, Solway had previously engaged ArcelorMittal for the development of the mineral sector of Liberia since the railroad and the Buchanan Port are for third party use, but according to Comptroller, Dennis, the steel giant sent Solway a communication requesting them to vacate the premises of Mount Mbelle and Detton.
At the recent presentation of the company to the county, Dennis said Solway Mining is investing $13.5M United States Dollars in the entire exploration works of the company over the three years period. However, FrontPageAfrica has confirmed that the investment has not gone through legislative oversight or approval.
It is unclear whether the company is in fact a concession company, since it is already making promises regarding corporate social responsibility. Exploration License does not require Legislative approval, only a mining license. However, a mining license is granted after exploration and declaration of a production area.
FrontPageAfrica has been able to gather that Mr. Morgan, in fact ,was granted the exploration license during the reign of former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, but according to unnamed sources,
the license was subsequently revoked.
DETAILS MURKY OVER MORGAN’s LICENSE UNDER EJS
When the George Weah-led government came to office in January 2018, Mr. Morgan resumed his quest to regain his license. Multiple sources confirmed to FrontPageAfrica that Morgan took the government to the ECOWAS court in a bid to have his license returned, but shortly before the ruling, the case was suspiciously withdrawn and he was granted his license back.
Mr. Morgan did not return calls and text messages seeking comment at the weekend and ArcelorMittal also has been silent on the issue, although a source close to the company said, “no promises were made in the meeting with protesters at the Mines and Energy Ministry last Friday. They just listened.”
For now, a lot of unanswered questions continue to linger. The bottom line for many watchers, is who are the hidden hands behind Solway Mining? Who’s financing the company? Why did Nimba Education Guide surfaced on the scene around the same time Solway Mining surfaced? What is the role of the government and why did the Ministry of Mines and Energy host a meeting with a group protesting one faction in the saga and why was the ministry so involved in introducing a controversial company to a county when a global steel giant already has mining rights to the Nimba Mountain? More importantly, while ArcelorMittal remains mute, what is the steel giant’s end game?