Liberia

In Liberia, many miners operate in the grey zone between legal and illegal status, a space where miners, customary authorities, and government officials are engaged in constant negotiation over the governance of artisanal mining activities. Given the high degree of informality and because the Liberian legal framework does not require the registration of individual workers, but only that of the “miner” equivalent to the mine owner, it is difficult to obtain reliable estimates of artisanal miners. A study conducted in 2010 revealed that ASM operations are a major employer in Liberia although official data indicates that mining employs 1.6% of the population (LISGIS 2011, 34). In 2012, Boakye et al. (2012) suggested that between 30,000 and 45,000 people were engaged in ASM in Liberia. A decade ago, other calculations indicated that estimated 50,000 to 100,000 men and women are directly involved in mining activities (MLME 2009 and PRS 2008 cited by Hinton 2010, 1). According to a report by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) citing estimates from the Communities and Small-Scale Mining (CASM), there are 100,000 ASM operators who have near 600,000 dependents (UNECA 2011, 69). Liberia Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives’ (LEITI) 2015 scoping study of the mining sector estimates “approximately 100,000 artisanal and small-scale miners and up to 500,000 diggers in Liberia” citing USAID’s Governance Economic and Management Assistance Program as the source (LEITI 2015, 16). High mobility rates in ASM along with participation by foreign nationals makes data collection difficult. As a result, individuals working in the ASM sector are unlikely to be captured in the national censuses.

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The scholarship and published research on women’s participation in Liberia’s artisanal mining sector is very limited. There does not exist a specific estimate to the total number of women working in the artisanal mining sector in Liberia. The single estimate on the portion of women involved in the sector comes from a 2012 study that states 10-20% of the estimated 50,000-75,000 artisanal diamond miners are women (Hinton 2010 cited by Eftimie et al. 2012, 4). Women are also noted to participate in the artisanal gold sector most commonly as panners but estimates to the proportion of the sector women makeup are not available.

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Artisanal and small-scale mining is a labor-intensive activity requiring manual and semi-mechanized efforts to excavate orebodies and extract metals and minerals from the earth. The working conditions are often very physically demanding and adherence to health and safety protocols is a challenge with limitations on access to equipment, awareness of appropriate measures to improve Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), access to financing to implement measures to improve working conditions, and regulatory oversight and enforcement from inspectors.

Liberia’s mining sector’s history is marked by several prominent mine site incidents. Read more in the Liberia Country Profile

Gold

In Liberia, most artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) activities take place in the southeast of the country, particularly in Grand Gedeh, River Gee, and Sinoe counties. Other sites include the Gola Forest region in Grand Cape Mount County, adjacent to the Sierra Leonean border, Grand Bassa County and Grand Cape Mount County (UNSC 2013, Hunter 2019). Conservation areas such as Sapo National Park in Sinoe County and the Liberian Forestry Development Authority (FDA) are also prime locations for ASM, with about 6,000 artisanal gold miners operating in Sapo National Park alone (EPA 2013, 28).

ASGM in Liberia dates back to the 19^th century when it was practiced by former slaves, but the first major rush took place in 1943 in Grand Cape Mount County. It generally takes the form of alluvial mining. Alluvial gold is extracted from sand and gravel deposits, most often in or near streams, usually in the form of small visible gold coins (EPA 2013). Liberia’s total gold reserves are estimated at 3 million ounces (Boakye et al. 2012, 17).

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Diamond

In Liberia, diamonds are produced mainly by artisanal miners from alluvial placers located in the western and central parts of the country. Three distinct groups of diamondiferous kimberlites have been recognized in western Liberia at Kumgbor, Mano Godua and Weasua. Other kimberlite occurrences are found in Nimba County in central Liberia, and more recently, another area in southeastern Liberia has been identified as an artisanal diamond mining area (Gunn et al. 2018).

Most artisanal diamond production remains largely informal and unregulated (Maconachie and Conteh 2020). Despite discoveries reported as early as 1906, interest in diamond mining in Liberia only began to take off after the discovery of the Lofa River deposits in 1957, which triggered the country’s first diamond rush. Although its own estimated geological diamond deposits were relatively modest, Liberia was already a major exporter at that time, with an estimated more than one million carats exported in 1956 (Van Bockstael 2014, 3).

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Liberia is well endowed with natural resources, including water, mineral resources, forests and a climate conducive to agriculture. After a long civil war (1989-2003) that shocked the country and the Ebola crisis (2004-2005) that plunged its economy into recession, Liberia's economy is rebounding largely through mining, forestry, and agriculture. The ASM sector has the potential to generate more income and contribute to poverty reduction in rural areas. However, if appropriate measures are not taken, it can also continue to exacerbate environmental degradation, social and health hazards, and pollution. Data and information exist to demonstrate the contribution of ASM to the achievement of SDGs 1, 2, 5, 8, 17 in Liberia, including poverty reduction, gender equality, and revitalized partnerships. Ongoing formalization efforts can help reduce the challenges the sector still faces and enhance its contribution to local and national socio-economic development.

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Mining Stratification

There is not yet a clear and unanimously accepted definition of artisanal mining. This is partly due to the fact that countries tend to define the term differently. In Liberia, the Mineral and Mining Act 2000 does not provide a clear definition of ASM, let alone a detailed legal framework for holding artisanal miners accountable (Van Bockstael 2014). Indeed, Liberia's 2000 mining code makes no explicit reference to "artisanal mining" but uses the term "small-scale mining”. It is in the 2004 addition of a 40th chapter to the law, providing for controls on the export and import of rough diamonds in accordance with the minimum requirements of the KPCS, that "artisanal" mining is mentioned.

Mining Formalization Regulations (ASM focus)

The MLME has adopted a bottom-up approach to formalize the artisanal and small-scale mining sector and to design the interventions of the Artisanal Mining Formalization Program. It expects that formalizing the sector will reduce rural poverty, build rural capital for investment in small microenterprises, generate income to build rural community infrastructure such as schools, clinics, and roads, and most importantly, create sustainable livelihoods for Liberian miners (MLME 2016). The MLME has based this strategic vision on extensive background work in the form of county-level fact-finding missions, analysis, and policy design sessions.

Laws and Policy

2000 Liberia Minerals and Mining Law

2003 Environmental Code

2006 Minerals and Mining Act 2006

2008 Minerals Policy

2010 Exploration Regulations

2010 Minerals Policy

2011 Revenue Code as Amended 2011

2014 Land Rights Act

Read more in the Liberia Country Profile