By Foday Moriba Conteh

The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), in collaboration with the National Advocacy Coalition on Extractives (NACE) and the National Minerals Agency (NMA), on Monday, 1st December 2025, convened a one-day multi-stakeholder forum focused on strengthening governance in Sierra Leone’s dimension stone industry. The event, held at Mamba Point Hotel in Aberdeen, brought together Ministries, Departments, Agencies (MDAs), civil society and industry actors under the theme: “Strengthening Accountability and Transparency in Sierra Leone’s Extractive Sector: Empowering Civil Society to Leverage Public Contract Disclosures for Monitoring and Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) Reduction.”

The discussions emphasized the urgent need for improved regulation, enhanced monitoring and better coordination in managing industrial minerals particularly granite, marble, limestone and sandstone.

In his keynote address, Ing. Hadji Dabo, Director General of the NMA, stressed that Sierra Leone is richly endowed with dimension stones, yet continues to lose significant revenue due to illegal extraction and export. He explained that some operators use basic quarry licenses to extract dimension stones but export them without paying royalties or taxes. This, he noted, deprives the state of substantial revenue while exposing communities to environmental degradation.

Ing. Hadji Dabo attributed those challenges to outdated legislation, weak oversight systems and widespread non-compliance. He stated that while Government has attempted reforms, such as appointing sole agents for export monitoring and instituting bans on illegal timber and stone exports, those measures have not sufficed to fully regulate the sector.

The DG emphasized that with growing construction needs across Africa, industrial minerals will become more valuable. He therefore called for a comprehensive blueprint with clear timelines to strengthen regulation, expand value addition and protect the tax base. Ing. Hadji Dabo concluded by reaffirming the NMA’s commitment to transparency and improved governance of industrial minerals.

Dr. Charles G. Ofori, Policy Lead for Climate Change and Energy Transition at ACEP, reinforced the message of reform, noting that Sierra Leone, despite being dubbed the “Eldorado of Africa”, still struggles with weak governance structures for managing industrial minerals. He said the quarry and dimension stone sector, although critical to infrastructure development, is often overshadowed by high-value minerals such as diamonds, gold or bauxite.

Dr. Charles G Ofori highlighted gaps in regulation, fragmented data systems, poor inter-agency coordination and the persistence of outdated contracts containing stabilization clauses that limit Government’s ability to adjust fiscal terms. He warned that the country continues to lose revenue through under-declaration of mineral volumes, diversion and inefficiencies in monitoring systems.

Drawing lessons from other African countries, he pointed out challenges such as faulty weighbridges, high maintenance costs and incompatible data systems. To address that, he recommended shared monitoring infrastructure at strategic points instead of requiring each quarry operator to independently install weighbridges.

He also called for a unified national mining revenue management framework consolidating royalties, fees and other payments under one transparent system. This, he argued, would reduce duplication and strengthen citizens’ understanding of how mining revenues support development. Charles Ofori urged regular collaboration among the Ministries of Mines, Finance, Environment and Local Government, along with civil society and the private sector. He closed by reaffirming ACEP’s readiness to support Sierra Leone in building a fair and sustainable industrial minerals framework.

Cedric D. Palmer, NMA’s Large-Scale Mining and Compliance Manager, provided an overview of the country’s mining laws, administrative structures and current licensing environment. He affirmed that Sierra Leone operates under a solid legal framework, including the Mines and Minerals Act, the NMA Act 2023, the Mines and Quarries Regulations 2013 and the Geological Data Management Policy. These are complemented by environmental laws, local content legislation and the National Development and Resettlement Act 2023.

Cedric Palmer outlined the roles of key institutions, from the Presidency and Parliament to the Ministry of Mines and the NMA and described the process for issuing reconnaissance, exploration, artisanal, small-scale and large-scale mining licenses. Sierra Leone currently has 16 exploration licenses, 21 small-scale mining licenses and nearly 1,000 artisanal mining licenses issued annually.

He discussed the country’s mineral portfolio, which includes rutile, ilmenite, bauxite, iron ore, gold, zircon and potential minerals like copper and nickel. Cedric Palmer referenced the nationwide geophysical survey conducted between 2020 and 2021, which produced high-resolution geological data that is now guiding investment and regulatory decisions.

Despite progress, he acknowledged persistent problems such as illegal mining, land degradation, water pollution and child labour. Over 250 NMA compliance officers currently monitor mining activities but illicit practices remain widespread.

He celebrated Sierra Leone’s EITI score of 85.5%, noting that the country is steadily moving toward becoming a world-class geological and regulatory agency.

Yusuf D. Suma, NMA’s Chief Inspector of Mines, highlighted the often-overlooked importance of the dimension stone subsector, describing it as the backbone of national infrastructure development. He cited global projections showing that the dimension stone and aggregates market is expected to rise from US$5.7 billion in 2023 to US$7.2 billion by 2026, with long-term potential exceeding US$20 billion.

Sierra Leone, he noted, holds an advantageous position due to high-quality granite deposits, especially within the Freetown Intrusive Complex. However, the domestic quarry industry remains largely informal and poorly regulated, leading to unrecorded production, revenue losses and unsafe labour conditions.

Yusuf D. Suma revealed that 39% of workers in the subsector are engaged in hazardous manual stone breaking, sometimes involving child labour. He also raised concerns about illegal extraction inside protected forest zones, unsafe blasting, abandoned pits and lack of PPE among workers.

He criticized construction companies that extract aggregates from nearby sites without paying the required royalties, even though these costs are included in project budgets resulting in tax leakages.

To address those challenges, Suma called for a coordinated regulatory approach involving Ministries, local councils, chiefs, academia, civil society and the media. He argued that the Government should prioritize value-addition industries such as stone cutting, polishing and fabrication to boost employment and reduce illicit financial flows.

He concluded by urging participants to use the forum as a starting point for establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework that balances revenue protection with industry competitiveness. https://thecalabashnewspaper.com/nma-acep-host-multi-stakeholder-forum-on-sierra-leones-dimension-stone-industry/