WHY SIERRA LEONE MUST OWN ITS MINES Part 1 of 50
From the glittering alluvial fields of Kono to the iron-laced hills of Marampa, Sierra Leone is a land pregnant with mineral wealth. Beneath our soil lie diamonds that once dazzled European crowns, gold that should fund our hospitals and schools, and bauxite and rutile that power industries abroad. These resources should be our blessing, our engine of transformation. Instead, they have been the source of exploitation, division, and deepening poverty.
We are a nation rich in resources — yet poor in results.
An Inheritance of Extraction
Our story is not unique in Africa, but it is especially painful in Sierra Leone. From the moment colonial powers discovered the treasures under our land, the fate of our people was sealed in a cycle of dispossession. Under British rule, mining was not an instrument of national development but a tool of imperial plunder. Foreign companies were granted licenses with little oversight. Profits were exported. The people — mostly peasants and labourers — remained spectators in the economy of their own country.
When we gained independence in 1961, many hoped for a new chapter. But the old structures remained in place. The only thing that changed was the colour of the politicians who signed the contracts. Successive governments continued to favor foreign control, trading long-term national interest for short-term political gain and personal enrichment.
The result? A hollowed-out economy, vulnerable to global shocks and utterly dependent on the whims of foreign investors.
Diamonds and the Devil’s Bargain
Perhaps no mineral has shaped our national consciousness like diamonds. In the 1990s, our diamonds became synonymous with conflict and chaos — funding rebel warlords, fueling regional instability, and staining Sierra Leone’s name with the term “blood diamonds.” The world watched as our wealth was used to slaughter our people. But even today, in the silence that followed the war, the exploitation continues — cloaked now in suits and contracts instead of guns and machetes.
Foreign companies still dominate the diamond fields. Communities in diamond-rich districts remain some of the most underdeveloped in the country. Where are the paved roads? The modern clinics? The clean drinking water? For too long, we have been told to be patient — that prosperity will come with time. But decades have passed, and the promise remains unfulfilled.
A Landscape of Loss
Travel to the mining districts — Kono, Tonkolili, Port Loko, Bonthe — and you will see a country bleeding from its earth. Massive open pits have devoured farmlands. Rivers once teeming with fish are now clogged with silt and toxic runoff. Forests have been stripped bare. Meanwhile, local youth remain unemployed or locked in unsafe, informal mining, digging desperately for crumbs from an industry worth billions.
What has this abundance brought us? Not power, but dependency. Not development, but decay.
Sierra Leone continues to rank near the bottom of the Human Development Index. Our children still sit on mud floors to learn. Pregnant women still die in droves in understaffed clinics. Our infrastructure crumbles, while the minerals beneath us fuel foreign economies.
Who Benefits from Our Wealth?
This is the fundamental question Sierra Leoneans must ask. Because if the answer is not “the people of Sierra Leone,” then something is deeply wrong.
The current system of foreign-dominated mining serves only a privileged few. It benefits politicians who sign away our natural resources in backroom deals. It benefits multinational corporations that extract billions while paying pennies. It benefits middlemen and fixers who broker the betrayal of our sovereignty.
It does not benefit the farmers whose crops are ruined by polluted water. It does not benefit the youth who risk their lives in artisanal pits for survival. It does not benefit the nation.
A Rising Consciousness
But change is stirring. Across the country, a new generation is rising — one that is educated, connected, and no longer willing to accept crumbs from the mining table. They are asking uncomfortable but necessary questions:
Why don’t we control the mines ourselves?
Why are our royalties so low?
Who audits these companies?
Why don’t we have our own mining company run by Sierra Leoneans, for Sierra Leoneans?
This new consciousness is not driven by resentment. It is driven by justice. By the belief that we deserve better — that the land we inherit should nourish us, not enslave us.
A Turning Point
We are at a crossroads. We can continue the path of dependency, or we can chart a new course — one that places Sierra Leoneans at the center of our mining future.
We do not advocate isolation. We welcome partnership — but not pillage. We want investors — but on fair terms. We seek profit — but not at the expense of our people’s lives and dignity.
We must build a system in which the minerals under our feet become the foundation of national renewal — not national ruin.