Summit Communications: In late June, the country hosted the Conference on Disarmament, Demobilization, Reintegration and Stability in Africa; U.N. Troops are set to leave, giving the clear indication that the international community has full confidence in the durability of the peace here. Minister Deen, please share your thoughts on the country's newfound stability with the readers of the New York Times?

Honourable Alhaji M.S. Deen: Stability is in place. You only need look at the number of visitors and potential investors coming to the country to see this. You can travel to any part of the country at any time of the day or night. Five years ago this wasn't possible. Last week alone, two major potential investors came to express their interest in setting up an alumina refinery which is needed for the production of aluminium. An alumina refinery would add value to the ample resources of bauxite that we have in this country, which for now we are just mining and exporting. The head of the Koidu Kimberlite Project, Mr Roy Oron also came to confirm their commitment to Sierra Leone. He saw his Excellency the President and is interested in other fields of mining.

Summit Communications: Although in the international and public mind, diamonds in Sierra Leone are still associated with conflict, the reality has changed, thanks to reforms like the Kimberly process your sector is helping to consolidate the peace in the country. I would like to quote you from the Antwerp-Africa diamond day seminar. You said: "The success of the Kimberly process should not only be judged by the significant increase in revenue from legal export, but the full co-operation and commitment of importing states and other institutions. Without such cooperation and commitment, there can be loopholes in the scheme. It is expected that through international participation in the Kimberly process where every exporting and importing authority is committed, loopholes would surely be reduced." Minister Deen, we are keen to understand your vision of how the Kimberly process has been implemented here and internationally.

Honourable Alhaji M.S. Deen: I will go back a couple of years, before the Kimberly certification Scheme. At the height of the rebel war in Sierra Leone, the UK and the US supported a UN security resolution forbidding all states from importing diamonds from Sierra Leone without a certificate of authority from the government. So our own certification scheme started in October 2000 and continued until January 2003 when the Kimberly Process began. The Kimberly Process was started by a few African diamond-producing countries headed by South Africa with the support of several countries such as the US and the EU countries, crucially as the diamond centre for Europe, Belgium also signed up to the process. With the collaboration of almost the entire world, our legal exports have risen very sharply. The government has also implemented a number of reform measures or policies taking a carrot and stick approach. For instance, if someone made a report about the illegal possession of diamonds and smuggling and eventually the court finds the suspect guilty and any diamond is confiscated and sold by public tender, then that person will receive forty percent (40%) of the value of the diamond. We are also ploughing money back into the communities where the mining takes place. The government receives three percent of the export value of any diamond that is exported and a quarter of that three percent is goes to those local communities. In the past three or four years, that has amounted to about one and a half million dollars and obviously this also an incentive for people to support the legal diamond trade. For the rod, we no longer fine people for either unlawful possession or smuggling of diamonds. You go straight to jail where you will spend three years for unlawful possession and five years for smuggling. Together, this carrot and stick have worked well and we hope it continues.

USAID are also looking at grassroots artesenal mining and have organised some of the people into cooperative bodies, encouraging them to take out mining licences. For me, this is a fascinating experiment that could really change the pattern of artesenal mining in the provinces and ensure that the miners and not the dealers that profit from their work.

Summit Communications: You have also made the point that corruption really is an international issue. Is there anything else you would like to see from the international community?

Honourable Alhaji M.S. Deen: I think we need their understanding because, as you say, this corruption is an international issue. Our government itself is working hard to try and eradicate it altogether by imposing the rule of law no matter who is implicated. I will not claim that we have managed to eradicate corruption entirely but we have made massive strides in the last few years. However, there is no doubt that this is an international process and we need the ongoing support of international buyers and the international community to continue what we have started.

Summit Communications: Another issue that this raises is with the UN troops leaving by the beginning of next year, is the capacity of Sierra Leone's army to ensure the integrity of its borders. Are Sierra Leone's security Forces ready and prepared for that and what do you think the implications would be for diamond smuggling?

Honourable Alhaji M.S. Deen: We are getting a lot of support from our international friends. For instance, last week we received a consignment of logistical equipment and vehicles for our army. The UK government through IMATT are providing training for the police and military. There has been a real effort to build capacity and our forces have gradually taking over as UN troops are phased out. We feel we are fully ready, prepared and equipped but this is an ongoing process. The UK's IMATT force will stay with us at least until 2010 to direct our personnel and train them. The police are doing the same. They are taking on many new recruits. I think this is what we need. Once we have that, the confidence will grow. We are quietly confident right now and confidence will grow as more and more proof emerges that we can look after ourselves security-wise.

In terms of the diamond sector, when UNAMSIL were stationed in Kono, they helped us with air patrols, provided helicopters and were able to go into areas which we had not been equipped to visit before. These were the areas were the illicit activities took place and their assistance enable us, at one time, when we increased our diamond digging licences by well over a hundred, in one month. That is very significant. Now, we cannot provide the helicopter to carry out an air patrol but we are continuing to carry out a foot patrol and we will continue to monitor operations.

Summit Communications: It is testament to your nation's renewal that foreign investors are committing themselves to major new projects here in the country now. Titanium Resources Group and Koidu Holdings are the obvious examples, but just last week Mr Stuart MacGregor's Argyll Resources Corporation announced plans to invest US$1.6 billion in mining bauxite and alumina. This project as been described by Mr MacGregor as, "the largest infrastructure project to be undertaken in West Africa." The report that we are publishing is going to be read by the most powerful political and business leaders in the US and potential investors around the world. We are keen to communicate to this audience more about the opportunities that lie here. Where do you feel corporate investment can best help Sierra Leone and which are the particular opportunities or areas you can highlight to the readers of the New York Times?

Honourable Alhaji M.S. Deen: Koidu Holdings is reaping the rewards of the foresight of their management and the faith it had in the vision of the government and in the stability of the country. But they are the only operational Kimberlite mine at the moment and Kimberlite diamonds represented only 11 percent of official exports in 2004. The prospects for setting up more mines are good, especially since Sierra Leone has diamond deposits with an average run-of-mine carat value that competes with any other diamond producing country in the world.

The first thing the proprietors of Titanium Resources Group must be commended for is for securing their assets. Much of their large equipment was left intact. i.e. the power plant, the dredge and all the wet and dry plants were all in place. They committed funds to keep them going up to ten, eleven years. The cost of that over the years since 1995 has been considerable and demonstrates their confidence in the quality of our rutile and bauxite deposits. Taken on a mine for mine basis, it is the largest deposit in the world.

We also have an iron ore mine which closed down in 1985. The development in China and India means that iron ore once again has economic value. A number of investors have expressed interest in reviving the iron ore mine. We have already got investors in place for that and have granted a concession to a local company with a foreign partner. A fifty-two mile railroad used to carry the ore from the mine site to the port. Now we have an understanding with another company that is going to repair, reactivate and operate this rail on behalf of government and offer it on a rental basis to the mining companies around.

We also have great potential in gold though at the moment the amount of gold exported is totally overshadowed by our diamond exports. We already have a lot of alluvial gold mining but now there's a lot of exploration work going on to obtain gold from the rock in the northern part of the country. Cluff Gold started in Zimbabwe and then came to Ghana. They're getting very good results and we believe that in the next couple of years, we should have a gold mine in Sierra Leone for the first time. In addition to Koidu Holdings in Kono, we have a South African Company coming to look at one of the Kimberlite dykes. The Kimberlite body forms either in pipes or dykes which are small bodies running horizontal for several miles. This company is expert in this and will begin bulk sampling on one of these dykes in Kono in partnership with Mano River Resources.

Other investors are also entering into platinum exploration in the Western Area. Platinum was mined in this country during the Second World War, but then died out.

We know there is incredible mineral wealth in this country but we have never been able to really systematically explore these resources. We have very positive indications but no concrete information. A department in our Ministry, the Geological Survey department, discovered all these minerals initially but they can only go as far as our resources permit and then we invite the investors to come in. A company called SLDC has now come in and is exploring large areas of Sierra Leone airborne electro magnetic survey. It is very expensive but it is a much quicker to get your data. SLDC and another company are taking very large areas of the country and looking primarily for Kimberlite bodies. When they fly as low as possible, you have an instrument in the aircraft recording the magnetic property of the rock. Depending on the magnetic property of the rock, you can identify areas of high potential and then come down to earth and see what that body is. This will be of great use to us.

Summit Communications: Another issue I don't know if It is something that interest your Ministry or not; you mentioned about rough diamonds; obviously, the trade here in Sierra Leone; the export are all rough diamonds. Are you looking for investment in value added processes?

Honourable Alhaji M.S. Deen: We have already have; the thing that happens is that, you will be looking for somebody to come and show some interest in one particular aspect of the mining and then suddenly you get one and soon after that, you get so many more coming. We have about three or four right now that we are looking at to come and set up polishing and cutting system. We would give each one of them the chance. The problem would be that they need the raw materials- which is the diamond it self. So what we would do is to give them the opportunity to purchase for themselves and then use that. We might come to the point were we may even consider leaving five, ten twenty percents of all export for the cutting and the processing. We would… interest showing in the value added side of the diamond. I also received something about gold, but our production in gold is not so… but we may even come in to something were somebody will come and make Jewelleries from the gold. i.e. the limited amount that we have. That is also a welcome idea.

Summit Communications: Minister Deen, as you can see from the format of our report, we interview the top personalities, the top institutions and the top companies in all the countries that we go to, but we are also interested in portraying those personalities that are spearheading the changes in their coutnries. Could you please share with our readers something about your political and your professional background and how they influence the way you carry out your work here in the Ministry?

Honourable Alhaji M.S. Deen: Well, I am a mining engineer by profession. I studied in the UK as a graduate student in London University. I worked first in government for about fourteen years and then I joined the industry, working for a diamond mine. At the time, when the rebels attacked the operations of this diamond mine, I was Managing Director. Then I went into private consultancy and then I finally found myself in politics and I've been Minister of Mineral Resources since 1998. As a government official, you must formulate ideas and plans about what you think the Ministry or the industry should do to improve itself in order to gain the maximum benefit for all the stakeholders involved. Fortunately, most of the people I work with, have worked with me before and so we have a very good team out here. Even before the war, we had problems with smuggling. The rebels taking over the diamond-producing areas compounded this and though there are no longer any conflict diamonds coming out of Sierra Leone but our focus has really been to eradicate smuggling. We must control the trade in such a way to ensure that we get the maximum benefit from it. We don't think that we can get a hundred percent smuggle free situation but we can and we have reduced it. With the rise we are seeing in legal exports, we can be sure that smuggling is correspondingly getting less.

Summit Communications: So you have come from the private sector and really driven the renaissance of the mining sector again from your position as Minister. Is the motivation of being a public servant important to you?

Honourable Alhaji M.S. Deen: I think that is it. I have the knowledge to really be an asset to this Ministry. I should, of course, do better than a non-engineer or a non-Professional and I have to apply my endeavours in a sustained and professional way so that this Ministry can become a model. We involve colleagues, we involve people who are outside politics but have been or are in the industry and then tap their experiences and their views to make things improve.

Summit Communications: Minister Deen, I would like to introduce the next question with the words of Mr Nelson Mandela. He said and I quote 'after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are more hills to climb." You've travelled a long way in a short time as Minister of Mineral Resources. You said seven years but the transformation on so many levels has been dramatic. What are your hopes and aspirations for both your ministry and your country in the coming years?

Honourable Alhaji M.S. Deen: Well, I think the mining really should be the engine of development in Sierra Leone in terms of poverty reduction and in terms of generating employment. Our ministry or the mining industry should be a leading thing in providing employment for people. Right now we have one diamond mine operating and Titanium Resources Group will come online very soon. However, in the next four or five years, we hope to see at least two or three diamond mining companies with several diamond cutting and polishing companies, gold mines, more activities in rutile and bauxite, although if the alumina plants are established then we will try to discourage raw exports of bauxite. If we have five or six or even up to ten mines working, the employment situation will be improved considerably and that in turn will reduce the poverty in the country. This is my vision and my hope for the next five years.

Summit Communications: Honourable Minister, I just like to give you the opportunity to send direct message to the readers of the New York Times, a message of business, a message of friendship or whatever you want to say. Please go ahead?

Honourable Alhaji M.S. Deen: The mineral potential in Sierra Leone is huge. It has not been tapped at all and to use an apt cliché we have only just scratched the surface. Theirs is a wealth of opportunities for investors to come and get involved in and the security situation is such that investors have nothing to fear at all. The war was over many years ago and there's quite a lot of development already going on. So I encourage them to come and join and take part in it.