The House of Representatives of the National Legislature has overwhelmingly voted in favor of the US $1.8 billion Rail Access and Concession Agreement granting Ivanhoe Atlantic through its Liberian and Guinean subsidiaries access to the Yekepa to Buchanan Port infrastructure corridor. This Agreement is the first fulfillment of the 2019 Bilateral Implementation Agreement that Liberia and Guinea negotiated and ratified in 2020 and 2021. Upon ratification, the Government of Liberia will receive a total of US$35 million in concession and other milestone payments, which is in addition to US$37 million paid by the company during previous negotiations for rail access.
This investment has been in negotiations as far back as the Weah Administration and the beginning of the Boakai Administration. It promises to generate over $1 billion in rail access fees, approximately $110 million in direct contributions to impacted communities, an estimated US$800 million in infrastructure works in the Buchanan port and in rail capacity expansion, and hundreds of millions more to be paid in other regulatory taxes and duties. The project is expected to lead to thousands of jobs, both direct employment and construction related jobs during the life of the Agreement, as well as multiple third party service contracts for Liberian businesses. Because the mining operations are in Guinea, the investments in actual mining operations and those related infrastructure will occur in Guinea-but Liberia benefits from the transportation and evacuation logistics. This is a first of its kind in the Mano River Union.
The phase two expansion phase will likely lead to increased capital investments in infrastructure when the company ramps up to evacuation of 30 million tonnes per annum and considers investing in a deep water port near Didia, Grand Bassa County, as previously reported in its press releases. The Ivanhoe Atlantic deal aims to provide high grade iron ore from its Kon Kweni Mines in Guinea with a deposit of over 750 million tons to the US and allied countries, in an effort to counter Chinese dominance in high grade iron ore from Africa.
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This investment is said to align very well with the current US Government trade agenda. Since the beginning of the Trump Administration, the US Government has been very consistent with its rhetoric that it prioritizes Commercial Diplomacy, and the US State Department has instructed all Embassies around the world to aggressively work with host Governments to advance US business interests towards a trade not aid agenda. Furthermore, the US Government has not been shy about its policy on developing avenues for the U.S. in accessing critical minerals supply chains across the globe. The issue is being discussed extensively in Washington, DC policy circles.
In Liberia, the US Embassy has repeatedly supported the multi-user rail framework and support for a National Rail Authority and made multiple public pronouncements. In addition, the US State Department was adamant about its support of the Ivanhoe Atlantic Agreement in July as a step in the right direction towards multi-user rail access and saw the investment as good for Liberia. As far back as December 2024, J. Peter Pham, a former Trump appointed Ambassador to the Sahel and Great Lakes Region of Africa was clear and explicit in an Op-ed to the Daily Observer that the Yekepa to Buchanan Port railway infrastructure was of strategic interest to the US. Pham, who is presently the non-executive Chair of Ivanhoe Atlantic, did not mince words.
Despite all these signs, Liberia initially stalled and slowly handled the negotiations for rail access, even culminating into confusion and further delays when the National Investment Commission Chairman Jeff Blibo defied a Presidential directive and granted AML Rail Operatorship without authorization to do so back in April. The President finally signed an Agreement and the Legislature received the Agreement from the President on October 23rd.
It is expected that other companies that had obtained approvals from Guinea to use Liberia for evacuation of minerals from the Nimba Forest Region will now pursue the Liberia option under this multi-user framework to railway access.
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It is well known in Liberia that ArcelorMittal has vehemently fought against multi-user rail access and an independent operator as decided and ordered by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai Sr., AML has put forth clauses in their most recent leaked draft agreement and Rail System Operating Principles (RSOP) that were recently rejected by the President and sent back for negotiations. AML is currently still at the Inter-Ministerial Concessions Committee negotiating its amendment to its Mineral Development Agreement (MDA).
Despite the signing of three Executive Orders on the National Rail Authority-once by President George Weah with Executive Order 112, and twice by President Joseph N. Boakai with Executive Order 136 and Executive Order 153, Liberia has yet to appoint staff to the NRA to set things into actual motion. Although delayed, the National Legislature is expected to take up and pass a National Rail Authority law early next year, thereby moving from Executive Order to permanent oversight legislation.
