The_Open_Door_deel1

-205-
After the change of the name from the "United African American
Corporation" to "International African American Corporation", on
February 17, 1954, the concession agreement was amended and
supplemented by agreement on March 31, 1955, reflecting the
change of name already mentioned as well as the change of the
name of the assigned company, L.A.D.C, to "Liberian American-
Swedish Minerals Company"(LAMCO), which resulted from an
agreement reached between Detwiler and a group of Swedish
investors. The Legislature approved these changes almost one
year later, on March 21, 1956. The original 1953 agreement was a
second time amended and supplemented by an agreement between the
Government and LAMCO on November 12, 1958 (which was approved by
the Legislature on December 18, of the same year). The major
change in the 1958 amendment was a more specific description of
the concession area, explicitly including, among others, the
recently discovered iron ore deposits of the Nimba Mountains and
the Bassa Hills.
The following detailed history outlines the realisation of the
largest single investment ever made in Liberia. It is presented
here with the purpose of eliminating, once and for all, the image
of a Government, Liberian, which allegedly lacked awareness
and knowledge of certain facts within the world of international
finance and technology which provided the needed capital.
Despite this, the Government complained later that certain
features of the arrangement were detrimental to the interest of
the Liberian State and its people (3). Simultaneously, one gets
the idea of the tremendous task which had to be performed before
the mining venture became a reality.
The search for investment capital
The original concessionaire Lee Detwiler was one of those
enigmatic prospective investors who, despite lacking sufficient
capital, roamed the African continent in the 195O's and 196O's
and managed to conclude important deals with Governments of newly
independent States. Little is known of their legal or sometimes
illegal activities and at times even less of their financial
background. Generally, they conformed to the type of energetic
international businessman, the fast talker, with limited time
available as they are always en route to the next appointment.
At times they were bluffing but some of them were endowed with
a highly developed business-acumen. In the 1960's Detwiler, reputedly
representing U.S. bankers and businessmen, concluded a
I 2 billion deal with the Government of Congo (Kinshasa) for
the supply of technical personnel.(4) In the case of Liberia,
given the country's Open Door Policy, in combination with a
political structure which facilitated business activities once
one had become friends with the nation's leader, numerous
investors arrived to do business but few were successful. Prior
to the signing of the original concession agreement Detwiler had
already established cooperation with the British firm of