With several arrests in the past year, Liberia is the latest West African country to clamp down on illegal mining operations conducted by Chinese nationals.
Sen. Albert Tugbe Chie recently condemned the economic and environmental damage caused by unregulated miners, including land degradation and the pollution of rivers from dredging operations, which are prohibited by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME).
“These activities are not only illegal but also rob the county and the country of much-needed revenue while leaving behind environmental devastation,” he said during an April 10 speech in Barclayville, according to The Liberian Investigator news website.
In nearby Ghana, where illegal mining is known as galamsey, the government has struggled similarly with the economic and environmental impact of illegal Chinese mining. Authorities have arrested and deported dozens of Chinese nationals in recent months.
In Liberia, mining is critical to the economy, accounting for about 15% of the nation’s gross domestic product. In 2023, the mining sector provided $665.4 million to the GDP, up from $621.8 million in 2022. Gold, diamonds and iron ore are Liberia’s most prominent mineral exports.
In August 2024, Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency shut down China Union’s Bong Mines for building an iron ore processing plant without a permit, operating without an effluent discharge license and illegally discharging tailings into a wetland.
In October 2024, authorities temporarily halted production again and arrested 19 Chinese immigrants who lacked valid work permits at TXT Mineral Resources Limited, a subcontractor of Bong Mines.
Although iron is mined on an industrial scale in Liberia, citizens and authorities have grown frustrated with small-scale illegal Chinese mining operations. The government has responded with a broad initiative to crack down on illegal mining, enforce regulations and protect natural resources.
In the illicit mining hot spot of Rivercess county, the MME ordered Hongtu Mining Limited in Mat House Town to cease operations on March 20. When the company ignored the order, authorities in April confiscated its equipment and arrested five Chinese nationals.
“This is a clear message to all those involved in illegal mining: Liberia’s natural resources must be exploited legally and responsibly,” MME Inspector General Agatius Coker said, according to news blog Geez Liberia. “We will not tolerate companies or individuals who disregard our laws for personal gain.”
In an April 23 editorial entitled, “Days Of Impunity For Illegal Miners Are Fading Out,” Liberian newspaper The Inquirer said the arrests were “welcome and overdue.”
“For too long, Liberia’s mineral wealth has been siphoned through shadowy operations that blight local communities, cheat the treasury and erode confidence in the rule of law,” it stated. “A country blessed with gold and diamonds should not find its rivers choked with silt and its forests scarred by illegal excavations.”
A turning point might have occurred in 2024 when a Chinese man named Gao Feng, believed to be the leader of an illegal mining cartel, was indicted along with several of his countrymen on charges of economic sabotage, tax evasion and criminal conspiracy.
In the capital city, Monrovia, Liberian police arrested Feng, Zheng Yi, Li YingJun, and Mo HaiLong when they turned themselves in on July 23. On the condition of anonymity, a top Ministry of Justice official told Liberia’s Daily Observer newspaper that the indictment was a significant development in the country’s fight against illegal mining.
“[Feng] and his men could not leave the country, and they could no longer hide because we had sealed all of the exit points with information about them,” the source said on July 24. “They now know that they have to face justice in this country. They will answer questions and give accounts of their action in accordance with the laws of Liberia.”
The indictment revealed that Feng’s operation used more than 100 excavators and 50 industrial mineral-washing plants throughout Liberia for six years, costing the country more than $29 million in government revenue.
“We will do all we can to bring [Feng] and his men to justice for plundering the resources of this country for all those years,” the official said. “They won’t go scot-free.”