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The Government of Sierra Leone officially launched the National Strategy for Critical Minerals 2026-2031 on 20 May 2026 at Sierra Leone Mining Week (Freetown International Conference Centre), with Vice President Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh delivering the keynote address alongside Minister of Mines Julius Daniel Mattai. The strategy commits to attracting USD 2.5 billion in exploration and mining investment, establishing 3-5 domestic mineral-processing plants, and achieving USD 1.5 billion in annual value-added mineral exports by 2031 -- up from a current raw-mineral export base of approximately USD 1.3 billion. Scope covers lithium, graphite, bauxite, cobalt, coltan, rutile, diamonds, iron ore, and rare-earth elements, and frames the national minerals agenda under the theme "Responsible Mining, Value Multiplication and Shared Prosperity."

On 27 March 2026, the Parliament of Sierra Leone ratified the Extractive Industries Fiscal Stabilisation Agreement for Large-Scale Mining between the Government of Sierra Leone and Leone Afric Metals (SL) Limited, covering the Kalangba lithium deposit (80.4 sq km, Ngowahun Chiefdom, Bombali District, Northern Province; spodumene/lepidolite pegmatites, ~25 Mt at ~1% Li). The agreement, dated 16 March 2026 and presented to Parliament by Finance Minister Sheku Ahmed Fantamadi Bangura, locks in fiscal terms for the 13-year mining period (25-year project horizon) against future royalty or tax changes, and commits Leone Afric Metals to a total investment of $250–309 million, with mining operations expected to commence in early 2027 and projected revenue of ~$200 million and 1,000+ direct jobs. Under Sierra Leone's Mines and Minerals Development Act 2022, fiscal stabilisation agreements with parliamentary ratification create binding investor-state obligations that constrain the government's future fiscal discretion over the project's life.

On 1 December 2025, FG Gold Limited achieved financial close and first drawdown on a USD 330 million senior debt financing package for the Baomahun Gold Project in Sierra Leone, arranged jointly by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), with additional capital mobilised through Trafigura Group. Afreximbank's own contribution to the senior tranche is USD 75 million; combined with AFC's previously committed USD 100 million in streaming and mezzanine investment, total African development-finance-institution support for the project reaches USD 430 million, fully funding construction of what will become Sierra Leone's first large-scale commercial gold mine. Global Trade Alert logs the Afreximbank tranche as a state-linked loan intervention given Afreximbank's supranational, treaty-based public-development-finance mandate.

In January 2024, the Sierra Leone Government notified Sierra Rutile Holdings Limited (ASX: SRX) that the reduced royalty rate of 0.5% agreed in the 2021 third-amendment agreement to the Sierra Rutile licence would no longer apply, and that the pre-2001 fiscal regime would govern Area 1 operations retroactively from 1 July 2023. The reversion imposed an estimated USD 12.6 million in additional royalty obligations for the 2023 financial year, rising to USD 25 million+ through 2026. Sierra Rutile issued a suspension notice to government in late January 2024, with Area 1 halting in March 2024; the government directed resumed operations in May 2024 under a new power contract, while the underlying fiscal dispute remained unresolved.

Sierra Leone's National Minerals Agency gazetted the Mines and Minerals Development Regulations 2023 (Statutory Instrument No. 9 of 2023) in May 2023 as the primary implementing instrument for the Mines and Minerals Development Act 2022 (Act 16). The Regulations repeal and replace the 2009 Regulations, establishing operational frameworks across five licence categories. Key provisions include a mandatory 10% non-dilutable free carried interest for the state in large-scale licences, an option for the state to acquire up to 35% additional equity on negotiated terms, mandatory community development agreements (minimum 1% of gross revenue), and environmental impact assessment and environmental bond requirements for all categories.

Sierra Leone's Parliament enacted Act No. 22 of 2023, establishing the Sierra Leone Mines and Minerals Development and Management Corporation (SLMMDMC) as a state body corporate mandated to carry out minerals and mining development, management, and related activities on behalf of the Republic. The Corporation operates through government-approved "project companies" (public-private vehicles) constituted under the parent Mines and Minerals Development Act 2022, with its Board responsible to the Minister for Mines. The Act enables Parliament-approved allocation of specific mineral assets to the Corporation for development, creating the institutional architecture for systematic state participation across Sierra Leone's strategic mineral sector — including rutile, ilmenite, bauxite, diamonds, iron ore, and critical minerals identified in subsequent national strategy instruments. The Act entered into force on 15 June 2023 and is the implementing parent for the Allocated Minerals Regulations (SI No. 11 of 2024).

Sierra Leone's Parliament enacted Act No. 16 of 2022, a landmark overhaul of the country's foundational mining legal framework replacing the Mines and Minerals Act 2009. The Act establishes a reformed licensing architecture (exploration → large-scale mining licence pipeline), enhanced royalty and compulsory state-participation provisions for large-scale licences, and strengthened local-content, artisanal-and-small-scale mining (ASM), and beneficial-ownership- disclosure obligations. The National Minerals Agency (NMA) is empowered as the primary regulatory body; the Act received presidential assent on 21 March 2023 and commenced 12 May 2023, forming the statutory parent for all subsequent Sierra Leone minerals legislation including the SLMMDMC Act (Act No. 22 of 2023) and the 2026-2031 Critical Minerals Strategy.