Sierra Leone

EITI Status Yet to be assessed against the 2016 Standard
EITI Member Since 2008
Latest Data From 2014
Website EITI Sierra Leone

Overview

Political stability has led to a revival of economic activity, including in the natural resource sector. The rise of mineral prices until 2011 resulted in a surge of new mining licenses and exploration. However, in recent years, falling commodity prices and low currency combined with the 2014 Ebola outbreak has had a considerable negative impact on mining operations and economic growth.  Notwithstanding, the extractive sector remains the key driver of growth in these challenging times.

Prudent management of natural resources is a pillar of the national Agenda for Prosperity and there is strong commitment to align the EITI with these reforms. In 2012, Sierra Leone also launched an advanced online repository, making revenues generated from mining companies accessible to its citizens.

Extractive industries contribution to the economy

  • 90 %
    to exports
  • 20 %
    to GDP
  • 20 %
    to government revenue
  • 1.5 %
    to employment

News, blogs and more

Tax and legal framework

The Mines and Mineral Act (MMA, 2009) governs the mining sector, whilst the petroleum sector is governed by the Oil/Gas-Petroleum Exploration and Production Act (2011). The fiscal regimes for the extractive sectors are incorporated in the Income Tax Act (2000) (ITA) and its amendments, as well as the Finance Act (2017). The main fiscal tools in the mining sector are corporate income tax and mineral royalty. The main fiscal instruments in the upstream oil and gas sector are royalty and corporate income tax.

Contracts

The government of Sierra Leone does not have a contract disclosure policy. Information on companies’ shareholding structures is now available in its on-line Mining Cadastre Administrative System (MCAS).However, both the Extractive Industries Revenue and SLEITI Bills have provisions and objectives which are intended to promote contract disclosure. The bills have not yet been passed into law.

Licenses

The National Minerals Agency is the principal point of contact for the general public in all matters to do with mineral rights.The types of licenses issued include reconnaissance license, exploration license, small-scale mining license and large-scale mining license.

Sierra Leone has one of the best web-based cadastre systems in West Africa. The Mining Cadastre Administration System (MCAS) provides information on license holders, coordinates, application dates, and duration of licence in support of the NMA in the management of mineral rights. In addition to the MCAS, an online repository also provides information on (license) payments made during the year.

Beneficial ownership disclosure

Objectives of beneficial ownership transparency in Sierra Leone

  • Due diligence in licensing and preventing conflict of interest
  • Preventing transfer mispricing
  • Transparency in ownership of extractive assets and rights help by PEPs
  • Prevent corruption and illicit financial flows to help maximise revenues from extractives

In 2017, SLEITI with support from Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) conducted a report that would review the legal framework, and prepare recommendations for Beneficial Ownership Disclosure reform. 

Progress on implementing beneficial ownership disclosure 

Sierra Leone is collecting beneficial ownership information from the 20 largest extractive taxpayers. In addition, steps are being taken to support and improving the due diligence procedures employed by the National Minerals Agency and the Petroleum Directorate in order to make these government agencies better informed in their dealings with prospective commercial partners, and better equipped to lead to the systematic collection and recording of beneficial ownership data.

Sierra Leone EITI plans to organize a series of technical workshops to review current legal and institutional framework for beneficial ownership and build the capacity of relevant stakeholders for the implementation of beneficial ownership. Read Sierra Leone's beneficial ownership roadmap below for more information.

Sierra Leone beneficial ownership roadmap
Becoming EITI compliant is one of the ways of ensuring greater transparency and improved governance of the sector.We are proud to engage with the EITI process that requires reporting on revenue streams from the extractives sector. The tremendous efforts that have been made by everyone in the production of this [SLEITI] report reflect our shared aspirations for transparency and accountability of the extractives sector, economic growth in Sierra Leone and prosperity for all Sierra Leoneans.
HE Dr Ernest Bai Koroma, The President of Sierra Leone

Production

Iron-ore production remains the key contributor to Sierra Leone‘s GDP growth. In 2015, 768,327 WMT was produced with a production value of just over 26 million USD.  Gold is mostly mined artisanally and presently production comes from alluvial deposits. Diamond is also been mined mainly from alluvial deposits at the Bo, the Kenema, and the Kono districts. Diamond production decreased from 594 thousand carats in 2014 to 299 thousand carats in 2015. The 2015 report highights that activities in the mining sector slumped by 83.7 percent partly because of the decline in global iron ore prices and the closure of the domestic iron ore mining companies. Consequently,mineral exports dropped to 358,863,680.68 USD from 1,109,239,334.77 USD in 2014. 

The upstream oil and gas activity is in the exploration phase occurring off shore and parceled into 14 blocks.

Mineral production (tonnes)

Initializing chart.

In any of these [contract] negotiations, there is such an asymmetry in terms of capacity of negotiation … the EITI is an important step and should be recognised.
Jeremy Allouche, Institute of Development Studies

Revenue collection

The 2015 report shows that Sierra Leone received just over USD 54 million in revenue from its extractive industry operations. 100% of these revenues came from the mining sector.The oil and gas sector was not active in the fiscal year 2015/2016. Revenues were mainly collected through mineral royalties and mining licences.

Initializing chart.

Reconciled revenues by top 5 companies

Revenue allocation

The National Revenue Authority (NRA) is mandated to collection all taxes on mining. In addition, other payments from the mining sector are made to local councils and Chiefdoms, where mining companies are based, to the Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development. In the case of petroleum revenues, payments are made to the Petroleum Directorate (PD).

Funds paid to the NRA and the PD are subsequently transferred to the Consolidated Fund/Treasury, and thereby lose their identity in the National Budget. Moreover, the budget does not show expenditure by geographical locations but rather by line ministry, which means it is difficult to track where money is actually spent on host mining communities. However, specific contributions, such as surface rent by mining companies, are allocated to certain district councils and chiefdoms for social development.

National Revenue Authority

Innovations

The EITI encourages multi-stakeholder groups to explore innovative approaches to make the EITI more relevant and useful.

  • Through its Online Repository Sierra Leone has made revenues generated from mining companies accessible to its citizens. It contains all mining licenses and payments, published directly from the mining licensing system at the National Minerals Agency. This portal also includes data on  licenses issued by the Forestry Department. It was launched in January 2012 and adopted by SLEITI in early 2014.

  • The Minerals Cadastre Administration System (MCAS) hosts fiscal information for all the large-scale mining companies. All fiscal terms in MCAS are copied directly from the companies’ Mining Lease Agreements. Information on companies’ shareholding structures is also available in MCAS.

  • The communications team at SLEITI worked with a group of blind people to produce the ‘SLEITI Song’.

Implementation

 Sierra Leone published their 2015/2016 EITI Report in February 2018.

Sierra Leone achieved EITI Compliance under the old EITI Rules in 2014. The MSG has recently been focused on making a greater contribution to an informed debate about resource governance. An assessment of the activities to make the best use of the EITI Standard and an initial assessment of Beneficial Ownership have been conducted. Through its Online Repository, hosted by the Revenue Development Foundation, Sierra Leone has made revenues generated from mining companies accessible to its citizens. 

 

Governance

In 2011, an MOU was signed between the Government of Sierra Leone, civil society, and the extractive industries to implement the EITI. These three form the Multi-Stakeholders Group and are responsible for developing policies in line with SLEITI's Mandate. The SLETI Secretariat is responsible for coordinating the day-to-day operations of the SLEITI and ensure that the decisions made by the MSG are implemented. The National Coordinator is Head of Secretariat and serves as Secretary to the MSG.

The Multi-Stakeholder Group is working towards the development of a SLEITI Policy and enactment of the SLEITI Bill which aims to remove legal barriers to implementation. 
 

Timeline

Learn more...

Validation

Sierra Leone's  Validation against the Standard will commence on 1 July 2018. The country is compiliant under the 2011 Rules.

EITI Reports and other key documents

Sierra Leone 2015 EITI Report

Published Date: 
February, 2018

This report is the 2015 SLEITI report, which reconciled payments made by the extractive companies and revenues received by the government of Sierra Leone in 2015.The report also covers the mining/oil and gas sectors in Sierra Leone as well as registers of licences; exploration, production and exports; beneficial ownership; contract transparency; state participation in the extractive sector; revenue collection and allocation; social and economic spending; and the outcomes and impact of the EITI in Sierra Leone.

Read more

Sierra Leone EITI Annual Progress Report 2016

Published Date: 
July, 2017
Publisher: 
Sierra Leone EITI

This is the Sierra Leone EITI 2016 Annual Progress Report (in accordance with Requirements 7.4. and 8.4.) The report assesses progress made by the country against the EITI requirements, and reviews the outcomes and impact of EITI implementation on natural resource governance.

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2014 Sierra Leone EITI Report

Published Date: 
December, 2016
Publisher: 
Sierra Leone EITI

This EITI Report covers Sierra Leone's extractive sector in 2014. It was published in December 2016. 

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SLEITI Beneficial Ownership Workshop

Published Date: 
April, 2018
Publisher: 
Alexanda Readhead

A powerpoint presentation on strengthening Beneficial Ownership Disclosure in the Extractive Sector in Sierra Leone (SLEITI).

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2013 Sierra Leone EITI Report

Published Date: 
February, 2016
Publisher: 
Sierra Leone EITI

This EITI Report covers Sierra Leone's extractive sector in 2013. It was published in February 2016. 

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View all documents related to Sierra Leone in our publications library

Contacts

National Coordinator

International Secretariat

Pablo Valverde

p.valverde
Regional Director
pvalverde@eiti.org

Pablo is Regional Director at the EITI International Secretariat working with the Middle East and North Africa and Anglo/Lusophone West Africa.

Prior to joining the EITI he was Senior Advisor at the Council on Ethics for the Norwegian Government

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Ines Schjolberg Marques

Ines Schjolberg Marques

ines.schjolberg.marques
Country Manager
imarques@eiti.org

Ines Schjolberg Marques is part of the Anglophone and Lusophone Africa team focussing on Eastern and Southern Africa, and supports wider policy work at the EITI International Secretariat.

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