$1.6b Deal Secure For Western Cluster

An Israeli Company, Elenilto Mineral Mining Ltd, has been awarded the rights to develop the $1.6 billion Western Cluster iron ore project, President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, said, reports say.

“We have finally come to closure on the concession bid for the Western Cluster iron ore deposits,” Mrs. Sirleaf was quoted in a statement handed to reporters recently. Cabinet will now start negotiations about developing the project with Elenilto, a unit of Engelinvest Group, she said.

The Western Cluster project consists of three deposits and two idled mines. The mines were closed in 1976 and 1985 and their equipment sold as scrap during Liberia’s two civil wars, the last of which ended in 2003.

The Western Cluster was first awarded to a South African mining Company, Delta, but a rebid was ordered after what government said was a due diligent on the company’s capacity to perform on time. In 2009, four companies submitted bids to restart development of the project.

Elenilto Mineral Mining Ltd is a subsidiary of ENGELINVEST GROUP, a global real estate development corporation with Elenilto and other subsidiaries dealing in mining and other operations.

ELENILTO MINERALS & MINING is operating large scale exploration & mining operations (Gold, Copper, Titanium, Manganese, Iron Ore, Chrome and others) in Europe and Africa. Efforts to contact Lands, Mines and Energy Minister Dr. Eugene Shannon for comment proved futile Saturday, as he told this writer that he was in a meeting.