By: OrePulse

ArcelorMittal Liberia plans to continue operating in the country for more than 40 more years and will raise its annual iron ore exports from under 5 million tons in 2024 to more than 20 million tons by 2027, the company's chief executive said this week, as it outlined a longer-term target of 30 million tons a year.

Michiel van der Merwe, ArcelorMittal Liberia's chief executive officer, announced the plans at the opening of the Liberia International Mining and Energy Conference and Expo on October 28 in Harbel, Margibi County. He said the company has invested nearly $4 billion to date in mining operations, rail and port infrastructure, power generation, employment and community development programs across Liberia.

The planned rise in exports, from under 5 million tons to more than 20 million tons within roughly three years, would represent more than a fourfold increase in the volume of iron ore the company ships from Liberia. Van der Merwe said the expansion includes a second phase of development centered on construction of what he described as Liberia's first large-scale iron ore concentrator, a plant designed to upgrade lower-grade ore into a higher-quality, more marketable product.

Much of the company's infrastructure investment, about $800 million, has gone toward rehabilitating and expanding the 245-kilometer railway linking the Tokadeh mining area to the Port of Buchanan, along with the port facility itself. Both the railway and the port are owned by the government of Liberia.

Van der Merwe said the railway corridor is set to become a multi-user asset, open to other mining companies operating in the country, under terms set out in the Third Amendment to ArcelorMittal's Mineral Development Agreement with the Liberian government. The amendment was ratified earlier this year. Companies that want to use the expanded rail corridor would be responsible for funding any additional expansion their operations require, according to the arrangement van der Merwe described.

A set of Rail Systems Operating Principles governing the corridor's future use envisions bringing in an independent operator to run the line starting in 2030. ArcelorMittal has also reached an understanding with the Liberian government on setting up a National Rail Authority, a body that would oversee other rail corridors in the country beyond the one it operates.

Speaking about the scale of investment Liberia's mineral sector will continue to require, van der Merwe said sustained progress depends on building human capital and local skills, alongside continued partnership among government, investors and communities. "No single company, government institution or investor can achieve all of Liberia's goals alone," he said.