By Abdul Malik Bangura
At the peak of a global pandemic which has ravaged economies of all countries across the world, Sierra Leone is having a clear boost in its mining sector as a group of expatriate from the Chinese owned Kingho Investment Company Limited jets into the country on Friday 17th July 2020, with the motive to revamp iron ore mining in the country’s northern district of Tonkolili.
Led by the General Manager of Kingho Investment Company Limited, Mr Gilbert Zhao, who together with others flew in onboard a private chartered Chinese flight, the team leader said they are in the country to boost the mining sector and also government’s revenue and tax collection. Therefore, he confirmed that Kingho Investment Company Limited is working on exporting its first (1st) shipment of iron ore from Sierra Leone latest by the 4th quarter (October-November-December) of 2020.
Speaking on arrival at the Freetown International Airport in Lungi, Mr Gilbert Zhao started by thanking His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio, the Government and People of Sierra Leone for the confidence bestowed on them. He assured that going forward his investment company is keen on utilizing the local potentials of Sierra Leoneans thus creating a workforce of between two thousand (2000) to five thousand (5000) employments. He added that his company will do everything possible to comply with all laws relating to local content policy in Sierra Leone. Hence he said, some of the expatriates are sub-contractors who will utilize local Sierra Leone engineers and workers who would be privileged for training opportunities in Beijing, China.
Mr Zhao further confirmed that the confidence they have in the Government of Sierra Leone is what gives Kingho Investment Company Limited the morale to invest at the restart period millions of United States Dollars into iron ore production in country.
In addition, Mr Zhao dilated that the job opportunity will be created for every Sierra Leonean irrespective of gender, ethnicity, social origin or religion. He further assured that they will help Sierra Leone achieve more on increased tax and revenue generation. He said for the first time Sierra Leoneans will benefit from Sierra Leone’s natural wealth.
Meanwhile, the places where the Kingho Investment Company Limited will be focusing on Iron Ore mining are Sambaia, Dansogoia, Simiria, Kafe and Tane chiefdoms all in the Tonkilili District of the Northern Province of Sierra Leone.
Also worthy to note is that Kingho Investment Company Limited is a subsidiary of China Kingho Energy Group with headquarter located in Beijing, China. It is seeking to successfully develop the Tonkolili Iron Ore Project in Sierra Leone.
Hence the reason why it has flown into the country a group of expatriates to revamp the Sierra Leone Iron Ore sector together with a whopping investment of millions of dollars.
