Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698832453999.pdf (Sierra Leone)
4th JUNE, 2022 E-mail: sierraleoneparliament@hotmail.com/admin@parliament.gov.sl PRESS RELEASE MINES COMMITTEE ADVISES SIERRA DIAMOND The Parliamentary Committee on Mines and Mineral Resources, in the Sierra Leone Parliament on Saturday 06/04/2022 gave patriotic advice to Sierra Diamond Mining Company, during their oversight, at the Tonguma Mine Site, Tongo Fields in the Lower Bambara Chiefdom, Kenema District.

Acting Chairperson of the Committee, Hon.


Rebecca Y. Kamara said the country needs miners that can adhere to mining requirements or comply with the laws.

She insisted that investors or mining companies should ensure that, Community Development Action Plan (CDAP) and corporate social responsibility are delivered, in light of enhancing a strong relationship with the host community people.
The Chairperson went on to encourage the company to trend on middle-level manpower, in tandem with recruiting more locals to be trained by experts.

"Give scholarships to locals to attend Government Technical Institutions for courses in middle-level manpower" she advised and went on to ask them to quantify their employment on proximity ranging from the host community Chiefdom, district, region, country, and continent.
Other Committee Members who made meaningful contributions raised concerns, and proffered solutions on environmental mitigation, improve insurance, condition of service for compatriots, tax obligations other related matters including replacing power generators with renewable energy as part of environmental protection, inclusion, and collaboration with the sitting MPs to showcase their development programs and overall mining advantages to the state.
The company management assured the committee of employing proximity, CDAP, environmental mitigation, and other due diligence including tax obligation.

According to them, South Africans were closer expertise and have a lot of required skills for such mining and the Local Content, it was disclosed that the locals were parts of management and also placed at a technical level.

They also informed that they had developed a graduate trainee scheme program to enhance the employment of female staff and locals.
They told the committee that the company had 232 manpower including 36 experts and went on to reassure the commitment to paying a huge sum of money for tax compliance and other related costs.

The company disclosed that their estimated diamond discovery was about eight million carats, and their operations predicated on deeper drilling or underground mining.

The committee discovered that the company was operating on the combined license of Sierra Diamond and Kimba.
They also discovered that the company's current expenditure was mainly from their investors and not from mineral proceeds.

The Chairperson maintained that the committee was impressed with the project activities of the company.

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