{"id":1139430,"date":"2019-09-20T05:31:49","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T10:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1002455"},"modified":"2019-09-20T05:31:49","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T10:31:49","slug":"sl-mining-to-halt-operations-at-marampa-iron-ore-mine-in-sierra-leone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1139430","title":{"rendered":"SL Mining to halt operations at Marampa iron ore mine in Sierra Leone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>SL Mining, a subsidiary of US<br \/>\ncommodity trader Gerald Group,&nbsp;is allegedly planning to halt operations as<br \/>\nearly as next week to help it offset the impact of a Sierra Leone\u2019s ban on<br \/>\nexport from the company\u2019s Marampa mine, imposed in July.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Despite an international court recently<br \/>\nordered the West African nation to lift such prohibition, authorities remain firm,<br \/>\nclaiming that SL Mining has failed to maintain the mine\u2019s agreed work schedule<br \/>\nor make royalty payments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The company, which rejects the<br \/>\ngovernment\u2019s claims, told employers that without being able to export, it was<br \/>\nnot possible for them to remain in operations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe [Sierra Leone\u2019s government] continues to ignore the terms of the London\u2019s court final order, failing to engage in a meaningful discussion with SL Mining,\u201d it said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesierraleonetelegraph.com\/sierra-leone-iron-ore-mining-company-gives-notice-to-employees\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">letter published by <\/a><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thesierraleonetelegraph.com\/sierra-leone-iron-ore-mining-company-gives-notice-to-employees\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">The Sierra Leone Telegraph<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSL Mining\u2019s sole shareholder, the<br \/>\nGerald Group, has invested a great deal of money and efforts in Sierra Leone<br \/>\nover many years and yet, was only allowed to make three successful shipments in<br \/>\na highly favorable market&nbsp;before being struck [by the ban],\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>The move would leave more than<br \/>\n1,000 locals on forced leave.<\/p>\n<p>SL Mining\u2019s first iron ore<br \/>\nconcentrate from Marampa, branded \u201cMarampa Blue\u2019, set sail from Freetown Port on<br \/>\nJune 16.<\/p>\n<p>Located in the Port Loko District,<br \/>\nin the country\u2019s north, SL Mining is engaged in the exploration, development<br \/>\nand production of a high-grade iron ore concentrate with &gt;65 percent Fe<br \/>\ncontent. <\/p>\n<p>The company estimates that Marampa,<br \/>\npermitted since 2017, holds about 1 billion tonnes of iron ore with a potential<br \/>\nlifespan of 30 years.<\/p>\n<p>Following a steady growth until 2012, foreign direct investment in Sierra Leone was severely impacted by an Ebola outbreak. <\/p>\n<p>The country\u2019s economy currently faces serious challenges, the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.doingbusiness.org\/en\/rankings\" >latest World Bank\u2019s report shows<\/a>. Those issues include falling government revenue as a result of low export and lack of investments in key sectors of the economy, including mining. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Moves follows a shipment ban imposed by the government in July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2849,949,369,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139430"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1139430"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1139477,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139430\/revisions\/1139477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1139430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1139430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1139430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}