The_Open_Door_deel1

THE SEARCH FOR OTHER MINERALS
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The search for minerals other than gold, diamonds or iron ore
was since its start (twenty to twenty-five years ago)
characterized in Liberia by lack of funds, lack of competent/
qualified manpower, and (until recently?) lack of serious
investors. Even nowadays it is by no means exactly known which
treasures are hidden below the surface, which is mostly covered
with "bush" and difficult of access in the absence of roads, or
within the economic zone extending 200 miles off the coast
recently internationally agree_d upon. Known to be found (on the
mainland) are bauxite, copper, iron ore, manganese, nickel,
phosphate, diamonds, gold, platinum, uranium, tungsten, and the
lower rated but for industrial purposes attractive deposits of
clay, kaolinite, quarry stone, quartz, sand stone and silica
sand. Beach sands in particular contain important deposits of
heavy minerals, relatively easily accessible, -such as barite,
columbium (niobium), chromium bearing minerals, corundum,
ilmenite, kyanite, magnetite, monazite, rutile, sillimanite,
tantalum, titanium and zircon. Unfortunately, the economic
potential of these minerals and the possible occurrence of as
yet undiscovered natural resources (both on-shore and offshore),
especially of coals and hydrocarbons had not been
established at the end of the 1970's.
The earliest indication of interest in the mineral contents of
Liberia's beach sands is found in a concession agreement granted
in 1956 to the "Columbia Southern Chemical Corporation", a U.S.company
owned by the "Pittsburg Plate Glass Company". Part of the
concession area given to the company was the whole of Liberia's
coast, lying between the Mano and Cavalla rivers and 10 miles
wide. The concessionaire's name disappeared from Liberia except
for a casual observation in a major book on the Liberian economy
according to which the concession with the "Columbia Southern
Chemical Corporation" was already in 1961 classified as a
"defunct concession" (64). Apparently, exploration activities,
if carried out at all, had not been successful.
At the end of the 1960's, in 1967, an Exploration Agreement was
signed between the Government and the oldest foreign company
involved in the prospecting for minerals in Liberia, the Dutch
company of Mm;H.Muller, granting this company the right to
explore for certain heavy minerals in the eastern part of the
country, east of the line formed by the River Cess.
Exploration activities, though with interruptions, still
continued in 1972 when the U.N.D.P. undertook a survey of the
coastal area between Monrovia and Marshall, followed in 1973 by
exploration for heavy minerals along the coast between Marshall
and Buchanan, and between Monrovia and the Mano river. Lastly,
"Globex Minerals (Liberia) Inc." in 1974 obtained an exploration
agreement allowing for the exploration of beach sands in the
area between the Cestos and Mano rivers. The two-year exploration
agreement (with a possible extension of one year) was terminated
by Globex on December 21, 1976 failing continued support of the
interested financiers.