CTC Mining Commences Haulage of first Consignment of Bauxite to Pepel Port for Shipment
The CTC Mining Sierra Leone Limited (Ltd.) on Thursday successfully hauled the first consignment of 50 tons of Bauxite to Pepel Port for shipment.
It could be recalled that Kingho Railway and Port (KRP), the manager and operator of the railway and Pepel Port and a subsidiary of the Leone Rock Metal Group (LRMG), on Friday, March 17, 2023 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the CTC Mining Sierra Leone Limited (Ltd.) which is a new bauxite mining company for the export of their bauxite ore through the Pepel Port.
In his statement, the Chief Technical Officer (CTO), Mr. Salim Sillah said as a company, they are proud because for the first time in the history of Sierra Leone two mining companies of different entities worked together in using the same service for the economic development of Sierra Leone.
‘’This achievement will not be possible without the willingness of the Government of Sierra Leone to design our agreement in such a way that gives us the right to expand the capacity of the Railway and Port to enable us to open the service to multiple users along the railway corridor through commercial agreement between our company and third-party users as agreed in Section 4.03 of the agreement,” he stated.
Salim further said that after the successful completion of this first shipment, KRP and CTC will work together to develop a plan for CTC to export more shipments until the long-term plan is operational, noting that the short-term plan is important due to the technical difficulties in handling Bauxite and Iron Ore using the same transport and ship loading facility as Bauxite can cause contamination that may have impact on Iron Ore grade.
He said Leone Rock Metal Group has been tirelessly engaging not only CTC, but other mining operators along the railway corridor to develop similar mutual commercial agreement that will be a win-win for all companies but more especially for the Government and the People of Sierra Leone.
‘’Our company believed the Government of Sierra Leone chose to sign the management and operational right with Kingho Railway and Port Company due to our ability to rapidly transform the transport sector for the betterment of the mining industry. This agreement by allowing CTC Sierra Leone Ltd to use the Railway and Port will tremendously help CTC to grow rapidly as their export volume will be highly competitive with other players.”
It could be recalled that after the signing of the MOU with KRP and CTC Sierra Leone Ltd, many newspapers and online bloggers mistrusted the implementation of the MOU between the two companies. Since the signing of the MOU, CTC and KRP has jointly held several engagements with the communities along the haulage road to sensitise them about the increase in traffic on the road. CTC has recruited youths from the communities along the haulage road that will be flag men and women to control traffic during the entry and exit of the heavy-duty trucks. Both companies are committed to implementing very high safety and environmental standards that will mitigate hazard and incident during the haulage.
The Port Manager of KRP Mr Karlson congratulated CTC for being the first company to enjoy the multi-user arrangement of the port and reiterated that the company is committed to load the agreed 175,000 tons in May 2023 for the export of the first bauxite consignment from CTC operational Mine.