Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone - rich in minerals

Sierra Leone is a Democratic Republic located in West Africa 8 degrees north of the equator. It has an area of approximately 29,000 sq/mi and a population of over 6,000,000 people. In 2002 following the civil war, the country held its first democratic elections supervised by the United Nations. This elected incumbent government had a mandate to govern through 2007. Susbsequently, Parliamentary and presidential elections where held in August and September of 2007 and on September 17th the newly elected President, DR. Ernest Bai Koroma, Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana and 112 elected members of the House of Representatives took office. The basic unit of government outside of Freetown is the chiefdom, headed by the paramount chiefs who are traditional rulers and custodians of the land.

Since the elections in 2002, Sierra Leone has seen a large resurgence in economic development with European, Asian and North American corporations establishing or re-establishing their presence in the Industrial, Finance, Resource and Technology sectors of business. From a resource point of view, the country is rich in iron ore, gold, diamonds, bauxite, titanium and chromite ore. Companies such as Godwana Exploration, Sierra Rutile, Stanton Mining, Branch Energy, Rex Mining, Mano River Resources, Pacific-Betts and African Diamonds to name a few have spent millions dollars in exploration and development in the resource sector. As well, Sierra Leone has a rich forestry and fishing industry and recently the government has issued off shore oil exploration licenses to a number of corporations. Prior to the war Sierra Leone had a vibrant tourist industry based on 400 km of shoreline with pristine beaches, dive sites, off and onshore fishing and animal reserves. The government is actively encouraging the redevelopment of this sector of the economy.

Sierra Leone has risen from a decade old much publicized brutal civil war. The people of Sierra Leone are glad this unprovoked war is over and that Sierra Leonians now enjoy peace and security. This combined with the governments open for business position investment in all business sectors continue to show growth. Sierra Leone has now become a country where investors from all over the world have taken notice and is home for embassies from the United States (the U.S. built the largest embassy in West Africa here in Freetown), China, Egypt, U.K, Germany and others along with the large EU complex in Freetown. (  from a personal point of view, based on experience over the past 5 years, the people are friendly, helpful and happy to see you and personal safety is equal to or better then most European or North American locales, contrary to depictions on some out dated web sites).