PREVIEW
Reports suggested Wilmot Paye advised the president against deals with US firms
The dismissal of Mining Minister Wilmot Paye has raised eyebrows in Monrovia as the government intensifies talks with the United States aimed at obtaining investment in critical minerals.
A former leader of the Unity Party, who swung behind President Joseph Boakai’s successful campaign against former President George Weah, Paye has gone quietly, describing his government office as a ‘borrowed coat’. He has been replaced by R Matenokay Tingban, Deputy Mining Minister during Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s presidency. State House said his removal was part of moves to improve efficiency (Dispatches, 22/11/23, After narrow victory, Boakai set to review resource contracts).
Though that suggests Paye’s removal was not controversial, it has been reported that he advised Boakai against signing recent agreements with Oranto Oil and Ivanhoe Atlantic-HPX, a US mining company.
The Boakai administration is in talks with US firms who are keen to access the country’s deposits of critical minerals, including lithium, manganese, cobalt and nickel. At the US-Africa energy forum in August, Liberian officials offered a series of incentives to US firms to invest in mining and infrastructure, including tax holidays, a corporate tax rate of 25% and the right to repatriate 100% of profits.
The Trump administration has made access to critical minerals one of its African priorities. In mid-October, Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted Liberia’s Foreign Minister Sara Beysolow Nyanti in Washington for talks that focused on minerals deals.
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