Liberia

  • The Republic of Liberia is situated on the coast along the south-west corner of West Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea and Cote d’Ivorie
  • Africa’s oldest republic, founded by freed American and Caribbean slaves in 1847
  • Democratically elected government since 2006
  • Africa’s only female president, Madame Ellen Johnson Sirleaf re-elected in 2012 for a second term of five years. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the same year
  • Since the end of the civil war in 2003, Liberia has experienced a period of reform and reconstruction under President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
  • One of the highest levels of FDI in West Africa (relative to GDP)
  • High level of GDP growth forecast by the IMF. Higher than many other West African countries
  • Sustained UN and US commitment
  • First country to become compliant with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)
  • Over US$18 billion foreign direct investment committed to date, mainly for the mineral, oil and agricultural sectors
  • Attractive fiscal code and lowered levels of corruption to attract external investment
  • Companies active in Liberia – ArcelorMittal, Severstal & Vedanta (iron ore), Hummingbird (gold), African Petroleum, Chevron, Exxon & Total (oil), Firestone (rubber) & Sime Darby (palm oil)
  • Robust mining law based upon well-established Australian system and pro-mining government
  • Region underexplored for gold

Regional Geology

Liberia is situated within the Archean Shield portion of the Man Craton, which has remained stable since about 1.7 Ga.

To the east of the Liberia is a Birimian-age (2.1 Ga) proto-continent that accreted onto Africa during the Eburnean Orogeny (Milési, J-P, et al 1992). Pan African units extend along the southern edge of the country, representing the formation of Gondwana (500 Ma).

The west of Liberia is underlain by Archean granites and granitic gneisses, as well as greenstone belts (metamorphosed mafic and ultramafic rocks, bounded by granites and gneisses suites representing the remains of volcanic belts).

The Archean rocks have been subjected to deformation and shearing, with the principal structures acting as conduits for mineralizing fluids which features rich gold deposits.

A major, crustal scale, north-westerly-trending shear zone in the south-western part of the country cuts across the regional trend of the Archean mountain belt. The interference of these two tectonic elements produced complex structures with a strong rotational component of deformation and formed large and long-lived traps for mineralization.

Age Province Map of Liberia