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small Liberian miners. Gold is found in nearly every county
of the republic although in limited quantities: only in
Nimba County no deposits were located so far but gold is
expected to occur here too, primarily because one of the
country's most important diamond "fields" lies in this
northern county, and because gold and diamonds are often
found in adjacent or mixed areas.
The Lofa and Grand Cape Mount Counties, bordering Sierra
Leone, are relatively rich in diamonds, especially along the
Lofa river and in the region between the Lofa and Mano rivers,
but it was in Montserrado County that the first diamonds were
found, in 1906, in the Gibloon area (between Bensonville -
now called Bentol - and Careysburg) by a small, Liberianowned,
gold mining company (14). Diamondiferous soils were
also found to exist in Grand Bassa and Sinoe Counties,
The interest in diamond mining was heightened in the 195O's,
and this was reflected in the increase in prospecting and mining
activities, the growth of the number of Liberians involved in
the diamond industry, and the granting of concessions to foreign
investors. The major agricultural concessions (see Chapters
3, 4 and 5) generally also had the (exclusive) rights to mine
gold, diamonds, oil, or other minerals, but this acted in the
first place as a guarantee against mining companies jeopardizing
the investments in large plantations by mining operations ^within
the concession area or on the plantation. The discovery of important
diamond "fields" along the Lofa river in 1957 culminated
in a "diamond fever" which caused thousands of Liberians to rush
to the Lower Lofa river area where the small town of Weasua
became the centre. These events disrupted normal production life
on the large (foreign-owned) rubber plantations, notably of
the Firestone Plantations Company's Harbel plantation, whose
rubber tappers abandoned their work and left for Lofa County
(at the time still called the Western Province) in the hope
of getting rich quickly. The fact that they were prevented
from settling in Lofa County and were forced to return to their
places of employment - although rubber tappers, for instance,
were employed on a daily basis - adds to the accusation of
forced labour being employed on Liberia's rubber plantations
(see Chapter 13).
The National Legislature adoped extensive legislation concerning
the diamond industry in the following year (1958), regulating
the exploration, mining, sale and export of diamonds, thereby
severely restricting the opportunities for Liberians to engage
in diamond mining activities. On the other hand the door was
opened for foreign capital. In 1959 an agreement was concluded
between the Government and the U.S.-owned "Liberian Development
Corporation" (note: this is not the same company as the parent
company of The Liberia Company) granting a Diamond Mining
Concession to the foreign concessionaire. In December of the
same year a Statement of Understanding was signed with Sydney