London Mining Plc - MoU signed for the lease of railway and port facilities in Sierra Leone 03.09.2007 London, 3rd September 2007. London Mining Plc is pleased to announce that the company has signed a Memorandum Of Understanding with the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone last week in respect of the proposed lease of the railway line from the Marampa mine to the port as well as the port and its facilities.
The Marampa iron ore mine is located about 80 kilometres NEE of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. London Mining has held a mining license at Marampa since September 2006 and has completed various studies including building and installing a pilot plant and testing 16 fifty tonne bulk samples from the tailings deposits at Marampa. London Mining has requested the use of the Marampa-Pepel Railway Line and Pepel Port and facilities from the Sierra Leone Government in order to be able to transport the iron ore that will be produced from Marampa mine to the Pepel terminal for shipment abroad.
Large parts of the existing railway between the Marampa mine site and Pepel port have been damaged or removed and the Pepel port facility will also need to be repaired before it is fully functional. The Sierra Leone Government has agreed to establish an asset holding company to oversee the fixed rail and port facilities and will grant exclusive access to London Mining to the fixed rail and port facilities for a minimum of three million tonnes per annum. London Mining has agreed to fund the costs of these repairs and has also agreed to undertake and fund a feasibility study to determine whether the facilities, with modification, can accept multiple users in the future (at the expense of future users).
In a significant vote of confidence for London Mining, the Government of Sierra Leone has agreed to transfer the moveable railway assets and port facilities at Pepel to London Mining at the 1st September 2007 at fair value. These assets are believed to include the locomotives, rolling stock, scrap metal and approximately 60,000t of iron ore fines concentrates at Pepel.
Christopher Brown, Managing Director of London Mining said: "This is an important milestone for London Mining and its Sierra Leone operations. The agreement will enable us to transport and ship iron from the Marampa mine, and under this agreement we will, together with the Government, rehabilitate infrastructure important both to London Mining as well as to Sierra Leone".
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