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pricing of the company's output for tax purposes. In vain it had
been emphasized by the Government that pricing for tax purposes
should be more clearly defined. A small success for the
Government was the limitation of a loss carry forward privilege
to a number of years only, viz., 8 years (in the final
agreement), though initially the Government had insisted that
all deductions for tax purposes should be limited to a definite
period. With the exception of the loss carry forward privilege
this was not realized in the final agreement.
LISCO thus was for the entire term of the concession exempted
from customs duties, excise taxes etc.
It was further agreed that the concession would be cancelled if
active exploration had not started within 6 months after the
Effective Date of the Agreement or if no commercial shipment of
iron ore had been made within four years after the expiration
of the 5-year exploration period (127). These conditions indeed
constituted improvements when compared to e.g. the 19 53 and
1960 Mining Concession Agreement concluded with LAMCO. These
agreements did not contain such provisions but in the LISCO
Concession Agreement "active exploitation" was very vaguely
described, whereas e.g. in the Agreement concluded with Lansdell
Christie in 1945 it was already stated that "It shall be
considered thai exploitation work is carried on in an
exploitation lot when at least five workmen work therein daily
and some mechanical apparatus is in active use" (128).
Even the 1958 Concession Agreement with NIOC still described
"active exploitation" more precisely than the LISCO Agreement
by providing that "It shall be considered that exploitation work
is carried on in an Exploitation Lot when an average of at least
five workmen work there in an average of four months a year and
some mechanical apparatus is in active use thereon or on access
roads or means of transportation to such lots" (129).
See Annex 14 for further details of the LISCO Concession
Agreement.
Rumenian interest in developing the concession
Little is known of the ups and downs of LISCO after September
1967. The Rumenians apparently showed an interest in the Project
in 1968 when a Trade Delegation from Rumenia visited Liberia and
visited the Wologisi Range upon invitation of LISCO. Their
interest did not result in participation, probably because of
difficulties in obtaining hard currency although President
Tubman's aversion to relations with Communist countries may also
have had an influence. When in 1971 William Tolbert succeeded
Tubman he changed, among other things, Liberia's official foreign
policy towards the countries of Eastern Europe although attempts
in the early 197O's to interest the Rumanians again in the
Wologisi ore failed (130).