Nov 18, 2009

FREETOWN (Reuters) - Sierra Leone's parliament has passed a new mining act that raises royalties and increases community benefits despite the opposition walking out, a senior minister said late on Tuesday.

The new Mines and Minerals Act 2009 will hike diamond and gold royalties, give the government the right to take a stake in big mining projects and require companies to contribute to local community funds.

The bill aims to remedy the effects of years of mismanagement, corruption and a 1991-2002 civil war that have hamstrung the West African nation's mining potential, leaving it among the world's poorest countries despite vast resources.

Passage came on the eve of the Sierra Leone Trade and Investment Forum in London, which the country hopes will attract a raft of interest in an economy still emerging from civil war.

"We got the bill through parliament," Minister of Minerals and Presidential Affairs Alpha Kanu told Reuters by telephone. "There was a lot of opposition because of a procedural issue but everyone liked the bill itself."

Members of the opposition Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) walked out one by one and did not return, citing a procedural complaint that the gazette had been published only once.

Kanu had to re-introduce the bill, which passed with 58 members, beyond the required quorum of 33, thanks to the support of traditional paramount chiefs and sympathetic members of the People's Movement for Democratic Change.

"This act means a lot. We now can control our environment, there's a new provision for the health and safety of our workers and every company will contribute to community development funds," Kanu added.

Sierra Leone's gem-fueled civil war killed some 50,000 people and left infrastructure and farmlands in ruins, pushing out many large foreign companies that had sought to develop the country's vast minerals deposits. Companies that remained sought favourable terms for their operations.