“Fact-Finding Unveils UTM-Coordinate Significant To Resolving Mining Dispute In Ben-Ben Town”-MME

By: Ezekiel Geeplay Ezekiel| Correspondent

Liberia, Monrovia-Monday, March 31, 2025-Authority of the Ministry of Mines and Energy says that following a day-long engagement with residents of Ben-Ben Town and its environs that have been locked down in a longstanding mining dispute, the Ministry of Mines and Energy reports that resolving the conflict now hinges on the use of cloud technology through UTM-Coordinates.

Chairing the fact-finding meeting held in Ben-Ben Town on Sunday, March 30, 2025, the Deputy Minister for Operations of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, William Hines, told the gathering that scientific information indicated on two Licenses submitted to his team of investigators will be ‘properly verified’ by dispatching a technical team to run UTM-Coordinates. According to Deputy Minister Hines, the cloud technology which uses Google-map system, will clearly determine which of the two Licenses owns the mining pit at the center of the disputes.

Moreover, Deputy Minister Hines and team informed the residents of Ben-Ben Town and adjacent towns that as part of the Government’s efforts to make sure a lasting solution is reached in the Ben-Ben Town mining dispute, the Mines and Energy Ministry will conduct a re-survey of meets and bounds reflected on the two Licenses that were produced during the March 30, 2025 meeting. 

According to a Ministry of Mines release, prior to the weekend’s meeting, “Minister Wilmot Paye, along with a team of Deputy and Assistant Ministers had met in audience, two citizens’ groups from Ben-Ben Town who had gathered at the Ministry on March 23, 2025, with appeals for the Ministry to resolve their conflicts, claiming that the November 2024 moratorium placed on mining activities in their area was posing economic difficulties to them.”

The release “Their conflict then, led to the Ministry’s stay-order after claiming the lives of two persons as well causing bodily injuries to contending parties and damage to properties”.

That said, Deputy Minister Hines’ fact-finding team included the Assistant Minster for Mines, Carlos Edison Tingban, Deputy Inspector-General, Adolphus Gleekia, Mining Agent, Henry Yates, and other technical staff from the Ministry, including experienced Inspector, Jerry Zayzay.

Edited: Jesefu Morris Keita| Editor-In-Chief