A controversial company which used Liberia as a bargaining chip to enhance its image as a concession giant and walked away with US$123.5 million after selling its interest to Sesa Goa, a unit of Vedanta Resources, has resurfaced in the West African nation of Togo. Elenilto Mineral is promising to produce annually 5 million tons of phosphate, fertilizers and phosphoric acid with total revenues of 28 billion dollars during project life time under a deal announced this week in Lome. Located in western Liberia, the Western Cluster project consists of three mining concessions, the Bomi, Mano and Bea, with over three billion tonnes of iron ore resource. According to its annual report, Vedanta invested $96 million on exploring the resources until March 2014.
According to a release distributed by the African Press Organization Tuesday and signed by Alon Avadani, CEO, Elenilto, controlled by the Israeli billionaire Jacob Engel, was recently awarded by the government of Togo in an international tender, to develop the phosphate mining and fertilizers plant project in Togo. The release said, Elenilto, which leads and controls the consortium, is cooperating in this project with Wengfu as its strategic partner. Wengfu is one of the top leading international phosphate and fertilizers groups with vast experience in the phosphate chemical industry in China and greatly favorable influence in the industry globally.
Rights to Idled Mines
The agreement comes years after the company acquired an investment in Liberia's mineral-rich Western Cluster promising to spend $2.4 billion develop Liberia's Western Cluster iron ore deposit. But after years of holding on to the concession, the company, against massive public outcry, sold its interest to Vedanta in a deal which the Israeli company earned a whopping US$23.5 million.
The company had initially promised to produce as much as 1.1 billion metric tons of ore after being awarded the rights to develop the Western Cluster project. The project consists of three deposits and two idled mines, which were closed in 1976 and 1985 during Liberia's two civil wars, the last of which ended in 2003.
Under the arrangement, Elenilto was expected to pay Liberia a one- time fee of $25 million and an annual tax equivalent to 21 percent of the company's profit from the deposits, according to the ministry's statement. It will also pay $3.1 million a year towards community development. Unable to deliver on its pledge, the company held on to the concession before it was finally rescued by Vedanta although Amir Nagammy, the company's country director at the was emphatic that Elelnilto was in Liberia for the long haul.
