A Liberian owned diamond mining company; Youssef Diamond Mining Company (YDMC) has announced the discovery of what could turn out to be the largest diamond field in the world.
Mr. Roger Youssef, a Geologist and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of YDMC, disclosed that following findings of large kimberlitic dike deposits in the north-western part of the country by the company, it is safe to state that Liberia may just make use of the opportunity to generate huge revenue generation amid the struggling economy or loses out.
Youssef made the disclosure Tuesday, May 18, 2021 during a consultative forum with authorities of the Liberian government spearheaded by the Ministry of Mines and Energy as well as heads of the Committees on Lands, Mines, Energy and Natural Resources at both Houses of the Liberian Legislature and other key stakeholders in the Energy sector including former Mines and Energy Minister Dr. Eugene Shannon.
The one-day consultative meeting was intended for the company to showcase its resource potential for potential exploration of diamonds from the Alpha Camp in Western Liberia (Northern Lofa near the border with Sierra Leone).
“Evidence from our data shows that Liberia may one day be the largest kimberlite field in the World. I was born and grew up in this country. We want Liberians to be enlightened that there is huge prospect or potential of diamonds and that there is a company called YDMC that is on the forefront of supporting, and funding the fundamental achievement of the discovery from Liberia,” Youssef stated.
He pointed out that based on the prevailing economic hardship that has engulfed the nation, any discovery of such is an enormous benefit for the government and the people to make a huge difference in their lives, and as such, all efforts by the company must be supported to allow its operate freely.
“This kimberlite has built nations up there. As I said earlier, evidence we have shown that we have discovered what must be the largest kimberlite field in the entire world. For now, when limited to West Africa, we are 100% guaranteed that we have the highest number of kimberlite in dikes cluster; better than Sierra Leone, better than Guinea, better than Mali, better than Ivory Coast. And we are hoping that in times, we can match the world and come up in rank with the world’s producers of diamond,” Roger indicated.
Despite the major discovery by the Liberian-owned company, Roger reckoned that its challenges have been the stalling of support.
“The support that we need is not going at a fast pace that we need it for us to carry out our objectives. All that we need is help from our government; we need help from our Ministry and our people by showing us a clearer path in helping us achieve our objective rather than stalling this. Things are not going well in the country; the economic is so bad and they don’t have the time to invest in it, and so major discovery like this should claim the attention and focus of our government,” the YDMC CEO asserted.
“We want to let Liberians know that if we decide not to go forward with this, some entity may just take over this area, probably a Gola Park, the worth of this country may just be buried. This country must look at the potential benefits of an exploration as compare to having the area as a park based on the YMDC discovery,” he furthered.
Among other things, Youssef disclosed that the company is right now doing everything possible to reach the point of signing a Mineral Development Agreement with government.
Also speaking at the forum and subsequently with local media, the man behind the discovery of Liberia’s kimberlitic dike deposits, Dr. Stephen Haggerty, detailed significant data and findings of botanical discovery, new kimberlite(pandamus candelabrum) in Liberia.
Dr. Haggerty, a renowned geologist, indicated that YDMC has done great deed of works in producing date with respect to the sector since his arrival in 1977 in Liberia.
The well-known, experienced and high profiled Geologist wants Liberia take advantage of the discovery and grant the rights that belong to YDMC to do what he said will greatly benefit the people of Liberia.
The company is currently carrying out a bulk sampling program as previous sampling had developed grade ‘A’ type diamonds.
Comments are closed.