Lakshmi Mittal, executive chairman of ArcelorMittal, and Liberian President George Weah said they signed an agreement Friday to operate in Liberia for at least 25 years, According to Reuters. It will at least triple its iron ore production and invest an additional $800m.
Arcelormittal executive chairman Lakshmi Mittal said at the signing ceremony that output would rise to 15 million tonnes a year during the first phase of expansion and could be as high as 30 million tonnes.
Arcelormittal originally signed a 25-year deal with Liberia in 2005 and shipped its first iron ore from its Yekepa mine in 2011.
Arcelormittal had planned to expand production to 15m tonnes earlier, but those plans were put on hold in 2014 when the company declared force majeure due to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
Production will reach 15 million tons over the next three years, according to Liberian President George Weah, from whom the government will receive a total of $65 million.
The project is expected to create 1,000 direct jobs, 2,000 temporary construction-related jobs and about 4,000 indirect jobs, Weah said.
"The government sees you as an important ally in accelerating economic growth under its national development programme," Mr Weah tells Mr Mittal.
Liberia has huge mining and agricultural potential and has attracted billions of dollars in resources investment since the end of the 1989-2003 civil war, but its infrastructure remains underdeveloped and most of its five million people live in poverty.
Mr. Weah said the agreement was a revision of an existing agreement that still needs to be approved by his cabinet and parliament.
