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due time a mining concession agreement might be concluded in
respect of this area.
Detwiler claimed that he was entitled to the Concession Agreement
of the Kitoma Trading and Mining Company - with the exception of
the rights to the Kitoma area - after his agreement with Togba.
Then he approached the Liberian Government for a number of
changes of his Agreement, apparently after going through all of
the major concession agreements that had been concluded by that
time and picking out those provisions which best suited his
interest (115). The Liberian Government, in the initial stages
of negotiations with Detwiler ably represented by the then Secretary
of Planning and Economic Affairs, J. Milton Weeks, held
the view that the Kitoma Concession of I964 had been declared
void and unenforceable and that no concession agreement existed
in respect of the Wologisi Range as Togba had only been promised
the Government's support in obtaining a concession agreement for
this area for which he, Togba, had only been granted exploration
rights as far as Mount Wutivi was concerned. Subsequently, on
August 1, 1966 LISCO was granted a one-year exploration permit
for the Wologisi Range (116).
On the basis of his - disputed— claim Detwiler had interested two
major steel companies in the U.S.A. in the Wologisi ore deposits.
The companies concerned here were the ARMCO Steel Corporation
and the U.S. Steel Corporation. In August 1966 negotiations
between the Government and Detwiler for a mining concession
agreement started. However, relations between the latter and the
Government's chief negotiator Secretary Weeks were far from
harmonious (117) and when Detwiler submitted his draft agreement
Weeks raised many and serious objections to Detwiler's
proposals. By including in his draft agreement certain of the
provisions of the Kitoma Concession Agreement, which he
continued to claim through his Liberian Counsel William V.S.
Tubman Jr., Detwiler applied for the exclusive rights with
respect to a great variety of minerals and mineral products,
not only including all kinds of ores but also hydro-carbons,
precious metals, diamonds and " nuclear materials",
Secretary Weeks pointed out that the steel companies were
interested only in iron ore in the Wologisi Range and that the
inclusion of other minerals or of other areas in the concession
area would be immaterial to their investment decisions (118).
Detwiler's plans at that time were to assign the iron ore part
of the Project to a Joint Venture consisting of ARMCO Steel and
U.S. Steel which assigned company was to own and operate the
iron ore venture whereas LISCO would retain the rights to the
other minerals. LISCO's equity capital would be 80? owned by a
holding company, the Liberian International American Corporation,
a U.S. Corporation which Detwiler alleged consisted of a group
of bankers. The remaining 20? equity of LISCO would be available
to Liberian participants. The Joint Venture was to pay to LISCO
(for granting the concession and other services) 34? of the net
profits before taxes derived from the venture. (This payment
constituted a finder's fee proper as LISCO did not commit itself
to provide equity or raise capital in return for this fee).
This income of LISCO would be subject to a 50? corporate income