By: OrePulse

President Joseph Nyuma Boakai said Wednesday that gold mined in Liberia will be required to undergo domestic refining before export, part of a broader set of mining-sector initiatives that also includes a sovereign wealth fund and a new state-owned mining company.

Speaking at the Liberia International Mining and Energy Conference, organized by the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Liberia Chamber of Mines, Boakai said gold would have to be processed at licensed domestic facilities meeting internationally recognized purity standards before leaving the country. He said the government intends to have a processing facility operating within two years.

"This is going on in other countries, and it should happen here," Boakai said.

Boakai also announced plans for an independent sovereign wealth fund modeled on the Santiago Principles, a set of internationally recognized standards for such funds. He said the fund would be financed by a fixed percentage of mineral revenues and would invest in a mix of domestic and global assets. He did not specify what percentage of revenue would be allocated or when the fund would be established.

In addition, Boakai said a National Mining Company of Liberia would be formed to take equity and strategic ownership stakes in mining projects rather than relying solely on royalty income. Mines and Energy Minister Matenokay Tingban said the proposed company still requires legal and institutional approval and would need to operate separately from the ministry's regulatory functions.

Boakai said mining towns, among them Yekepa, Mano River and Bong Mines, would not be abandoned.

Addressing investors, Boakai said: "People who want to be good friends of Liberia, who want to be investors, must come with clean hands." He added, "I know some of you say we've been talking about it for a long time, but we're not just going to talk. We're going to act."

Boakai said the mining sector expanded 17 percent and made up 18.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2025, with mining contributing roughly one hundred twenty-four million dollars directly to national revenue in 2024. He said growth in the sector is projected to lift domestic revenue to about one billion one hundred million dollars this year, compared with six hundred ninety-nine million dollars in 2024. Boakai said the government also plans a thirty-million-dollar airborne geophysical survey, to be carried out under the Millennium Challenge Corporation compact.

Tingban said roughly 80 percent of the country has not been explored, and that future agreements would be guided by a "no data, no deal" approach, he said. He also launched an initiative aimed at formalizing artisanal and small-scale mining in the country.

Officials at the conference also pointed to continued foreign investment in the sector. ArcelorMittal Liberia Chief Executive Michiel van der Merwe said the company's investment in Liberia now totals nearly four billion dollars. He said annual exports, under five million tons in 2024, are expected to exceed twenty million tons by 2027. More than five hundred jobs have been created by Chinese companies involved in the Bomi and Bomi East iron ore projects, according to conference remarks.