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to the English "Providence Mining Company", which was approved on
June 10, of the same year. The speed with which the National Legislature
approved this agreement casts doubts as to the thoroughness
with which this job was done, to say the least. The agreement
had a term of 25 years, with a possible extension for a further
period of 20 years. As a concession area the company was
given "the Southern portion of the Lofa River commencing where
the Liberian Development Corporation ends, extending 20
miles approximately down towards the. sea" ,
and further the rights, not only to exploit diamonds, but also
"other ores, precious metals and related minerals", and
"to use for this purpose all available fishing and hunting
grounds within the exploitation boundaries of its
concession in keeping with existing regulations",
whereas the Tubman Administration guaranteed the investors that
they would not be hindered in their operations by stubborn landowners
or unwilling labourers: the Government would
"ensure that such interested parties transfer the lands
to the Concessionaire (,.,)" and "(.,.) agrees that it
will encourage and maintain an adequate supply of labour
(...)" (19).
There seems to be no reason to think that the agreement with
Sydney Normann was essentially different from the one with the
"Liberian Development Corporation", signed a year earlier,
though a copy of the latter could not be traced. Mention had previously
been made of the carelessness of the Government and its
indifference towards the indigenous population as reflected by
the neglect of its rights in the analysis of the concession
agreements which were concluded with the foreign investors in
the agricultural sector (Chapters 3, 4 and 5); here also in the
cases of the "Liberian Development Corporation" and the "Providence
Mining Company" the rights granted to foreign capitalists
superseded the rights of the population inhabiting the concession
area. The company, renamed the "Liberian Swiss Mining Corporation,
Ltd." and since 1963 financed with Swiss capital, reported
little production despite the introduction in February
1 963 of the first fully mechanised plant. The Bureau of Natural
Resources and Surveys disclosed in 1968 that the company had
ceased operations in the Lofa river area and had terminated its
agreement by serving the notice required by the terms of the
agreement(20). After the intervention of the original concessionaire,
Sydney Normann, the company was saved from liquidation
and as of November 1, 1968 a new management took over. Mining
operations continued to show little evidence of success, the
production remained low, and as the company contributed nothing
to the Treasury apart from rental payments of one dollar per
acre, had kept important documents related to its Liberian operations
in its main office outside Liberia, and had failed to
submit regular reports, the concession (together with four other
diamond mining concessions) was cancelled within a year of
William Tolbert succeeding William Tubman as President of
Liberia (21).
In the 1960's the giant of the diamond business, De Beers Con-