The_Open_Door_deel1

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beginning of the negotiations, in July, as Detwiler's chief
motive in concluding a mining concession agreement with the
Liberian Government had been the price of gold which had been
rising since the first devaluation of the U.S. dollar in 1971
but which had rocketed in later years to reach in 1974 the
(then fabulous)height of almost | 200.00 an ounce. Gold,
diamond and uranium are often found in adjacent areas or In
combination. With the increase of the oil price in recent
years and the expectation of further increases, a search for
uranium (and thus the inclusion of it in the mining agreement)
could only be to the company's advantage. In 1977 the
company's name was even changed for this purpose into the
"Liberian Gold, Diamond and Uranium Corporation". Though
Detwiler had accepted the obligation to spend within three
years after the effective date of the agreement (i.e. October 12,
1976, the date on which the President approved the agreement) a
minimum of $ 1,000,000.00 on exploration activities, 75? of which
within the first two years, exploration had still not started by
the end of 1977, and the Government realized that Detwiler - by
obtaining a long-term agreement granting him exclusive rights -
had only been safeguarding his personal interests by reserving
possible valuable deposits of minerals for himself, and that he
intended to use his (mining) rights at an appropriate time.
Therefore the concession agreement of September 20, 1976 with the
illustrous investor Detwiler was revoked as of November 11, 1977.
A man who in earlier days had been a successful businessman,
investor and millionaire came to an inglorious end in the same
country where he made his fortune. Remarkable, however, was the
reaction of the Minister of Lands and Mines, Aaron J. Holmes, who
ignored this decision reached at the end of 1977 and ...
recommended the termination of the agreement with Detwiler in
April 1978 (49).
Four recent mining concession agreements in detail
From the point of view of natural resources administration it
is both interesting and instructive to compare the legal side
of four concession agreements, all signed within a relatively
short period of time. As one agreement had been concluded
during the Tubman Administration and the others during the
Tolbert Administration, this comparative study may give an
impression of both weak and strong points of concession
agreements granted by the Government of Liberia (GoL) as well
as an insight into policy changes which may have taken place
since the beginning of the Tolbert Administration. The main
provisions of the agreements with these concessionaires are
summarized in Annex 9«
As can be observed from Annex 9, of thirty-nine different^
items which were compared and which stipulate the concessionaire's
legal position (excluding here "General Items") only
six were the same in all four agreements (50). Three more
provisions were identical in (only) three agreements although