§ 56. Mr. Edelmanasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the shipments of iron ore during 1951 from Sierra Leone to the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Germany and Holland, expressed in percentages of the total.
§ Mr. LytteltonOf the total exports of iron ore from Sierra Leone in 1951, 54 per cent. went to the United Kingdom, 20 per cent. to the United States of America, 23 per cent. to Germany and 3 per cent. to the Netherlands.
§ 57. Mr. Edelmanasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what facilities have been provided by his Department and the Sierra Leone Government to encourage the extraction of iron ore by the Sierra Leone Development Company Limited.
§ Mr. LytteltonThe development of the Marampa deposit has been on the basis of a 99-year concession negotiated before the war on favourable terms to the company. It was also facilitated by legislation providing for the construction of a private railway and by a loan from the Colonial Development Fund created by the 1929 Act.
The company was granted a 99-year concession over the Tonkolili deposits in 1944 and are now considering their development. The Sierra Leone Government have facilitated the acquisition of land for a new railway which will be required and have given certain assurances requested by the company.