West African Mining Projects Take Hit From Ebola Crisis

Epidemic Delays Rollout of Jobs Meant for Residents of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone

WALL STREET JOURNAL                                                                                             Nov. 19, 2014
By Patrick McGroarty in Liberia, David Gauthier-Villars in Guinea
and Alex MacDonald in London

...a promising corner of the global economic frontier is pocked with stalled mining projects. The Ebola epidemic has scared off ships and planes; prompted expatriates to abandon their posts; and delayed the rollout of thousands of jobs meant for residents of the three poor West African countries hardest hit by the virus: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

A three-story steel shiploader at ArcelorMittal’s port in the Liberian city of Buchanan is part of a $1.7 billion expansion delayed by Ebola. Patrick McGroarty/The Wall Street Journal

“All the projects are at a standstill,” said Mr. Foulah, chief executive of the mining-explosives firm ECP Guinée.

Steel giant ArcelorMittal SA has delayed a $1.7 billion expansion at its iron-ore mine in Liberia. One of Sierra Leone’s biggest investors, London Mining PLC, filed for bankruptcy last month after falling iron-ore prices and Ebola concerns hampered its ability to attract financing to address long-standing woes. And in Guinea, Rio Tinto PLC has stopped work on a $20 billion iron-ore mine deep in territory hard hit by the virus.

As a result, the sector that officials in the region were counting on to pull their poor nations out of poverty has become a victim of the worst Ebola outbreak on record.

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http://online.wsj.com/articles/west-african-mining-projects-take-hit-from-ebola-crisis-1416346636