Sierra Leone is well known for its vast endowment in minerals which include diamonds, rutile, bauxite, gold, iron ore, limonite, platinum, chromite, coltan, tantalite, columbite, and zircon, as well as promising petroleum potential. The country is home to what is considered to be one of the world’s largest iron ore deposits at the Tonkolili mine, which contains an estimated 12.8 billion tonnes of iron ore deposits.
Sierra Leone is also endowed with significant bauxite reserves. The country’s Port Loko deposit contains 100 million tonnes of bauxite deposits and is strategically located between the capital and one of the country’s main ports, Port Pepel. In 2014, Sierra Leone produced approximately 1% of the world’s bauxite production.
The country is also home to the world’s largest reserves of rutile (a high-grade titanium ore, used in the production of paint and papers), producing an estimated 120,000 tonnes of contained titanium dioxide in 2014, which accounted for roughly 14% of the total world production in that year. Take note Sierra Leone also has significant reserves of gold and diamonds.
Mining has been the mainstay of the economy since independence and the government has remained heavily dependent on mineral resources over the years. Mining contributed 0.7 percent to GDP, constituted 65 percent of export earnings, and 3 percent to employment in 2018.
Statistic Courtesy of: