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The Extractive Industries Fiscal Stabilisation Agreement (EIFSA) for Large-Scale Mining is a contractual instrument authorised under Sierra Leone's Mines and Minerals Development Act 2022 (MMDA 2022). Parliamentary ratification — not merely ministerial approval — makes the EIFSA legally binding under international investor-state law and creates a constitutional bar against retroactive amendment without compensation.
The Kalangba deposit is located in Ngowahun Chiefdom, Bombali District, Northern Province. The resource base is described as spodumene/lepidolite lithium pegmatites across 80.4 sq km, with estimates of approximately 25 Mt at ~1% Li. Initial annual output is targeted at 2 million tonnes of lithium ore. The agreement covers a 13-year active mining period within a 25-year project horizon. No specific royalty rate was publicly disclosed in parliamentary coverage, but the Finance Minister emphasised the agreement's alignment with constitutional provisions and existing financial laws governing tax stabilisation, state benefits, and negotiated fiscal terms.
Fiscal stabilisation mechanics: The EIFSA freezes the applicable royalty rate, corporate income tax rate, and other project-specific fiscal parameters at their 2026 levels for the life of the agreement. Future parliamentary amendments to Sierra Leone's mining tax code would not apply to this project unless Leone Afric Metals consents or compensation is paid. This is the same structure used for the Sierra Rutile Area 1 fiscal regime (filed 2024-01-01) and Kingho Iron Ore.
Counterparty: Leone Afric Metals (SL) Ltd is a Sierra Leone-registered entity. No publicly disclosed beneficial-ownership disclosure identified as of the ratification date; the NMA Active Mining Agreements page had not yet listed the EIFSA as of mid-June 2026 (the NMA site showed Marampa, Kingho iron ore, and CTC only; the EIFSA likely follows a 60–90 day administrative registration lag post-ratification).
Local-content commitments: The parliamentary debate highlighted local-content provisions and maximising economic benefit to Sierra Leone, but specific localisation percentages were not published in the ratification coverage. A surface-rent payment to Ngowahun Chiefdom was confirmed as the first disbursement, consistent with MMDA 2022 community-development-fund obligations.
governance on the IPTM register: framework law (MMDA 2022, filed 2023-03-21), national strategy (2026–2031, filed 2026-05-20), and a project-specific fiscal stabilisation agreement. This completes the SL lithium governance architecture.
ministerial concession, this agreement requires parliamentary repeal to modify, meaning any future government seeking to change the terms (e.g., to impose a windfall-profits levy) faces the same legislative process. This is an investor-protection signal distinct from ordinary ministerial approval.
2026-03-19) and broader West-African critical-minerals liberalisation as the region positions itself as the third lithium geography alongside the Lithium Triangle (Chile/Argentina/Bolivia) and Australian hard-rock supply.
throughput, Kalangba is a mid-scale spodumene source that would likely feed Chinese or European lithium-hydroxide converters once in production (~2027+); downstream buyers are not yet named.
lithium deposit. Significant for Sierra Leone's fiscal architecture and for the global lithium supply pipeline, but the deposit is pre-production and the agreement is an enabling instrument, not a supply disruption or trade barrier. Severity would rise to 3 if export-processing conditions or mandatory domestic beneficiation obligations emerge in implementing regulations.
be published on ResourceContracts.org (as Kingho and Marampa agreements were)?
it permit raw spodumene concentrate export?
battery-grade processor) and has financing been confirmed for the $250–309 M capex?