The_Open_Door_deel1

CHAPTER 6
GOLD AND DIAMOND MINING;
THE SEARCH FOR OTHER MINERALS
Historical background
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There is evidence that gold was mined for centuries in Kpellecountry
and that it was exported via Cape Mount as early as 1500
(1). However, it is not certain that these gold deposits were
located In what is nowadays the republic of Liberia. The mining
may just as well have taken place more to the north, in a region
which now forms part of the Republic of Guinea and is the area
from which the Kpelle tribe originates.
Possibly the first mining company in Liberia was "The Mining
Company of Liberia". This company was founded by Liberians,
after the return of the Liberian explorer Benjamin Anderson
from the interior in 1869, and was granted a concession in the
same year, during the (first) Administration of President James
Spriggs Payne and only a few years after the formal establishment
of a "closed door policy" by the introduction of the "Port of
Entry Act". In 1881 the company was transformed into the
"Union Mining Company" but information on it is scarce. It is
known that it was an English-owned company which operated in
conjunction with sixteen Liberians, among whom there were
several Government officials (2). The company's mining rights
were in 1901 transferred to the "West African Gold Concessions,
Inc." which is in fact the first real indication that gold
and, for instance, not diamonds were involved. Later the company's
name was changed to that of the "Liberian Development Chartered
Company" (3),
In the meantime yet another mining company had worked the Liberian
soil: the "Excelsior Mining Company" which President William D.
Coleman had in 1898 granted
"certain rights over an area of 7,500 acres in the County
of Maryland in perpetuity, in respect of minerals, of public
lands to be Selected by them (.,.)" (4)
As this company may have been foreign owned (5) the granting
of perpetual rights may have been in conflict with the spirit
of the Constitution which prevents foreigners from holding real
estate in the republic (6). These perpetual rights are an
indication that not only the right to engage in exploratory
activities had been granted but also the right to mine subsoil
natural resources such as gold or diamonds. Whether the company
had obtained general mining rights or only rights in respect of
gold, or diamonds, is not known but at that time no geological
survey had ever been carried out in the country and the former
seems most probable. Apparently, production and/or export records
do not exist and mining activities may not have been very successful
or profitable.