The_Open_Door_deel1

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England's demand for iron ore was met predominantly by the
Canadian ore, partly by its West African colony of Sierra Leone,
and to a lesser extent by other countries. Although in 1945 there
was no need for England to look for alternative sources of supply
a gradual change became noticeable in the 1950's because of the
control of the sources of supply by large U.S. steel companies.
This resulted in a search for more independent sources of ore.
By then British economic policy had changed and emphasis was
placed on the maximum use of home ores (notably those of the
Midlands) probably in an attempt to reduce foreign exchange
requirements and to increase employment (19).
Germany had traditionally had a shortage of iron ore and, before
the war, had been supplied mainly by the Scandinavian countries
(85? of the German imported ore). Prior to the painful experience
of economic dependency and political vulnerability during the war
the Germans showed little interest in large-scale investments in
overseas mining ventures but after the lessons of the war the
policy of the German steel companies became one of diversifying
their foreign sources of supply, in addition taking an interest
in or acquiring the ownership of foreign mines in order to have
a more or less guaranteed source of supply. Eventually, in the
195O's, the needs of the booming German economy resulted in
considerable investments by German steel producers in iron ore
mining ventures in three different continents: Asia (India),
Africa (Gabon, Liberia and Mauritania) and Latin America
(Brazil) (20).
The granting of a concession to Lansdell Christie.
These developments in the international iron ore market and the
events in Liberia preceding the turnover of power to William
Tubman are important as without them the post-war investments in
the iron ore of Bomi Hills and other deposits would not have
materialized as they did.
In August 27, 1945 a mining concession for the development of the
Bomi Hills reserves was granted by President Tubman to Lansdell
K. Christie who had served with the U.S. Army in the construction
of the airfield near Firestone's Harbel plantations, Robertsfield,
following the U.S. - Liberia Defense Treaty of March 31, 1942
(21). Christie was neither a rich businessman nor an iron ore
expert but he did foresee the possibilities which the high-grade
Bomi Hill-iron ore offered with respect to the U.S. steel
industry. He obtained an eighty-year concession giving him
exclusive exploration rights in an area of about three million
acres (within a radius of 40 miles of the Bomi Hills) and the
exclusive mining rights in respect of all minerals except gold,
diamonds, and platinum in a smaller area of maximum 25,000 acres.
The Liberian Government was to be paid an exploration tax of
$ 100.00 per month (I 250.00 per month during any extension of
the 3s year exploration period), a surface tax of initially 5
cent per acre per year and which would gradually climb up to 25
cents, and a basic royalty of 5 cents for each ton of iron ore
exported.