SPEECH BY WILMOT PAYE, FORMER MINISTER OF MINES AND ENERGY, DURING OFFICIAL HANDOVER CEREMONY AT MINISTRY OF MINES AND ENERGY

Buzzi Quarters, Capitol Hill, Monrovia, Liberia

Friday, November 21, 2025

Minister R. Matenokay Tingban;

Honorable Deputy and Assistant Ministers;

Honorable Chairs and Members of The Senate and House Committees;

Our Bilateral and Multilateral Partners;

The President and Members of the Liberia Chamber of Mines;

The Presidents and Members of the Brokers and Dealers Associations;

Representatives of Civil Society Organizations present here;

Community Leaders;

Other invited Guests;

Directors, Assistant Directors and Employees of the Ministry of Mines and Energy;

Members of the Press;

My dear fellow Liberians:

Exactly twenty months ago, we assumed office as Minister of Mines and Energy. I am extremely grateful to GOD ALMIGHTY for HIS sufficient grace and guidance. I thank the President of Liberia for the confidence reposed in us to steer the affairs of two of the most critical drivers of our economy: the Energy and Mineral Sectors.

The Energy and Mineral Sectors We Inherited

We assumed leadership during a difficult period. The Transition had just ended. Earlier, as a member of The Joint Presidential Transition Team(JPTT), we had spearheaded the Energy and Petroleum Cluster Working Group, a team of some forty-seven professionals. The task was to “assess the current composition, status, structure and operations of the Ministry, Agencies and Commissions across these sectors”.

According to the findings contained in the Energy and Petroleum Sector Assessment Report of January 10, 2024 which was submitted to The Joint Presidential Transition Team(JPTT), “The findings would then inform decisions and policy measures which the new administration should consider in tackling problems within each sector, including the development of a work plan for the short, medium and long terms that is aligned to the President’s six-pillar ARREST Agenda”.

The findings were startling:

• Infrastructure was derelict, with no electricity, no Internet services, almost all of the offices were without basic stationeries, computers and their accessories and other related equipment;
• Technical capacity was despicably limited, particularly in the Engineering and Geosciences, with some 220 volunteers in the Inspectorate Division of the Ministry, posing what the Assessment Report describes as “a significant risk to the mineral sector”;
• License issuance, a key regulatory function of the Ministry, “was performed by the Ministry of State for Presidential Affairs” according to the findings;
• Policy instruments had become outdated;
• Regulatory roles were splintered across different institutions, often leading to overlapping and tensions among entities, and resulting into a larger public sector bureaucracy, coordination issues, inefficient regulation as well as underperformance of the potential of the Energy sector;
• No regulation for underground mining;
• Geological/Hydrological information had become outdated, as the existing data was obtained in the 1970s and had since not been updated, and except for the St. Paul River, the country’s hydroelectric potential remains largely unknown;
• No production records for precious minerals and other natural resources;
• LEC Board was not fully constituted, with the Chairman of the Board also acting as Chief Executive Officer(CEO) following his appointment by the same Board upon expiration of the ESBI Management Services Contract, with a monthly salary of US$17,500.00 under a World Bank arrangement;
• LEC had a Chief Operating Officer(COO), a foreign national, who received US$26,655.00 as monthly salary under the same World Bank arrangement;
• Organizational structure in use at LEC was not approved at any time, either by a Board or other means;
• Total installed electricity generation capacity stood at 161MW: 88MW installed capacity for Mt. Coffee Hydro Power Plant, 38MW for Bushrod Thermal Plant, 35MW of imports from Cote d’Ivoire(8MW of Cross Border Import+27MW of CLSG Import);
• Mt. Coffee Hydro Plant’s capacity was reduced to 66MW as a result of the 2021 fire incident that destroyed the stator compartment of one turbine(Unit 1);
• Total electricity generation in Dry Season stood at 91MW, with LEC required to settle import bills of US$13m in arrears to CI-Energies, purchase LFO, HFO, lubricants and stock of basic spares;
• Consistency in base and peak load demands, projected to reach 104.9MW in 2024, requires optimizing the network’s capacity to avoid massive load shedding;
• Because of high technical and commercial losses, LEC was collecting only about 50% of revenue from the energy generated;
• Transmission infrastructure was still grossly inadequate, with 9 of the 13 substations situated in Montserrado County, 1 in Bomi County, and 3 in Margibi County, respectively;
• LEC had 214,314 active prepaid customers, 59,141 dormant prepaid customers, and 620 postpaid customers on the grid;
• LEC had a total of 68,993 meters in stock;
• Jungle Energy Power(JEP) and LIBENERGY were the only two(2) private distributors;
• The already inadequate three-member Board of Commissioners of the Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission(LERC) was reduced to two(2), with no approved organizational structure;
• Contrary to the Act establishing it, LERC’s budget was not approved by the Legislature, with no financial statements provided;
• The Rural and Renewable Energy Agency(RREA) also had an incomplete Board;
• While solar energy potential was consistently high across Liberia with an average of 1,712kWh per square meter per year, there is no known solar energy production facility;
• The Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority(LPRA) had only two(2) members on its five-member Board;
• Despite an unsuccessful bid round in 2020, there was no progress to date;
• No International Oil Companies (IOCs) were operating in Liberia as at the time of the Assessment Report;
• In six years, no Reconnaissance and Exploration rights or license was issued, with no new seismic data generated throughout this period while the available data was generated as far back as 2013;
• At the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company(LPRC), the number of employees increased from 376 in January 2018 to 672;
• Petroleum importers did not store their own products but instead stored products for importers and collected fees from them, a function of the LPRC; and
• LPRC’s storage capacity thus reduced from 61,000 metric tons to 52,976 metric tons due to an earlier Government decision to give Bea Mountain Mining Company(BMMC) half of LPRC’s storage tank farm to construct a mini terminal exclusively for BMMC’s use.

The Energy and Mineral Sectors Today

But twenty months later, the Energy and Mineral Sectors, while they are yet to reach their fullest potential, are on track, completely repositioned to contribute as critical drivers of economic growth, development and transformation. By the special grace of GOD, productivity level has improved remarkably across the two sectors, with each institution striving to assert itself in order to become more productive, progressive, proactive, effective and efficient in the execution of its duties and functions.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy is now providing leadership through two active Working Groups: Energy Sector Working Group (ESWG) and Mineral Sector Working Group (MSWG), respectively.

When we see that the Electricity Law of 2015 is now under review, electricity supplies are becoming stable, load shedding the Dry Season is vanishing, generation capacity is increasing, imports have grown drastically, solar power projects are now underway, electricity access is expanding to other regions of the country, LEC has been fully restored to its statutory structure, feasibility study has identified four(4) sites along the St. John River for possible hydro plants, LEC has been audited, proposals from Independent Power Producers(IPPs) are being vetted, International Oil Companies(IOCs) are returning, petroleum products are available and affordable, electricity tariffs are transparently set, National Energy Policy of 2009 has been updated, 143 Government institutions have started to transition from Postpaid Metering System to Prepaid Metering System, improved coordination among stakeholders within the Energy Sector, commencement of the solarization of health centers, etc. then we can be convinced, without a doubt, that the Energy Sector we are leaving behind after twenty months is most certainly not the one so poignantly depicted and described by the gloomy image in the Energy and Petroleum Sector Assessment Report of January 10, 2024.

As we close this chapter, distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, it is a humbling experience for me, the dynamic and progressive Team here and Employees of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, to report that the level of progress in the Mineral Sector during this two-year period has also been unprecedented, at least since the 1970s:

• New geological information from the China-sponsored Liberia Mineral Resource Survey, which this Ministry has analyzed, has shed further lights on the extent of our Nation’s mineral resource potential, with strong evidence of the occurrence of more than a dozen minerals of strategic significance, including those in the Energy Transition and Rare Earth categories;
• Functional Mineral Sector Working Group;
• Submission to the President of proposals for amending the Minerals and Mining Law of 2000;
• Submission to the President of a draft Executive Order establishing a National Minerals Company to manage Liberia’s equity shares in mining concessions and commercial interests as well as to hold mineral rights, undertake exploration and enter into joint ventures or partnerships for exploitation and value-addition, etc.;
• Establishment of 15 County Mine Offices for which thirty (30) professionals have been recruited and assigned, Resident Geologists, and Resident Mining Engineers, respectively(I should note that many of these have Master’s degrees in the Geosciences and Mining Engineering);
• Promulgation of a New Fee Structure with several new areas, including fees for permits for consultancy, etc. (Note: US$50,000.00 for Class B, US$500,000.00 for Class A before production, US$1m for Class A when production starts, permit for Mine Manager, etc. The 2013 Fee Structure had 29 fee categories, while the New Fee Structure has eighty-six(86) fee categories, with fifty-seven(57) new revenue streams included;
• Instruction has been given for all Class A, Class B and Exploration License holders to submit a comprehensive list of contractors and sub-contractors for use to monitor compliance with local content requirements;
• Digitalization of licensing to improve performance is underway, with orientation workshop already conducted for the newly recruited and assigned County personnel;
• ASM Risk Assessment for Illicit Financial Flows(IFFs) was conducted in collaboration with the Financial Intelligence Agency(FIA), thanks to the Swedish Government through their Embassy near Monrovia;
• Liberia’s successful and visible participation in the 2025 International Mining Indaba held in Cape Town, Republic of South Africa;
• Regularization of Liberia’s membership and participation in the African Diamond Producers Association(ADPA) and reengagement with Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), including resumption of National KP Review meetings;
• Commencement of review of Mineral Development Agreement(MDA) using revised evaluation and monitoring matrix;
• Continuous review of Class B and Exploration Licenses to verify performance and compliance from time to time;
• Receipt and review of about half a dozen or so requests for new MDA negotiations, including from WestCrest, GemRock, Cavalla Resources, etc.
• Strengthened engagement with Hummingbird Resources Liberia(HRL) for status and commencement of The Dugbe Gold Project, which has been dormant with no sign or prospect for development any time soon;
• Concession and Access Agreement with Ivanhoe Atlantic (Note: It is strange that instead of embracing competition in the Mining Industry, which is the only way Liberia can benefit from its vast mineral resources, some public officials and elements of the Liberian Media have sadly become agents of ArcelorMittal in its desperate efforts to hold the country hostage, to frustrate and prevent other potential investors from the country, as they have continually and successfully done in twenty years. It is important to state here that along the Yekepa-Buchanan Rail Corridor lies the biggest iron ore potential: 17bn tons of Iron Ore, which a single company must never be allowed to control or possess for any reason. At today’s price of US$104 per dry ton, that is a warping US$2.38tn of wealth sitting idle. This is Iron Ore. How about Gold? Consider that in the last week in March of 2025, Bea Mountain Mining Company shipped US$31m worth of Gold.

Consider the royalties on these. For Iron Ore, this will give us US$107.1bn or 4.5% of US$2.38tn. For Gold, considering the 25-year period of BMMC’s concession, this will be US$40.3bn at US$1.6bn yearly. Of this, Liberia would receive US$48.36m yearly in royalties. This is why our proposal for establishing the National Minerals Company is extremely important and should be treated with urgency. Let me stress that these estimates do not include other minerals and regions.

• Successful relaunch of the Secondment Program with 114 young Geologists and Mining Engineers under a two-year arrangement as provided by the Minerals and Mining Law of 2000 and appropriate regulations. (Note: There is no better or surer way to build national capacity than through effective implementation of the National Secondment Program);
• Updating of the Exploration Regulations and promulgation of several new regulations, including the Strategic Minerals Regulations, Groundwater Regulations, Tailings Regulations, River Sand Mining Regulations, Administrative Hearing Regulations, Net Metering Policy, Financial Manual, Petty Cash Manual, New Fee Structure, Student Policy Manual, Five-Year Strategic Plan, Biometric Sign-In System for Employees, etc.;
• Consistent with the Public Financial Management(PFM) Law, we have established the Audit Recommendations Implementation Committee(ARIC), Budget Committee, Expansion of Procurement Committee to include all major program units, including Department of Energy; and
• Application Process Review was conducted, with a comprehensive report containing several useful recommendations prepared and submitted for consideration.

Additionally, we are leaving behind, thanks to the commitment, dedication and resolve of a great Team and an inspired workforce with ever-increasing morale, a Ministry ready to execute its statutory functions with interference.

I should also report here that instead of license holders sending quarterly and annual reports that were previously shelved as mere formalities, companies are now required to do presentations to a full Team of Technicians, followed by verification visits to project sites during which time frank technical discussions are held on reports submitted to the Ministry.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, today we turn over a Ministry of Mines and Energy whose budget has grown from US$2.7m (of which about 80% covered compensation) in 2023 to US$3.6m in 2024 (a substantial portion of which covered Revenue Enhancement, Logistics, critical equipment, computers and accessories, motorbikes, double-cabin vehicles for operations, 2 new buses to transport employees, etc.), US$4.0m in 2025, and US$6.1m in the Draft Budget for FY 2026( that will cover the cost of recruiting additional technical personnel for the fifteen counties, a permanent and fully-equipped Legal Department with one(1) Counselor-at-Law and two(2) Attorneys-at-Law, and what in the words of the Minister of Finance and Development will be “a top-up for Engineers”, fast-speed Internet service for the fifteen County Mine Offices, etc.) In other words, within two years, the Ministry’s budget grew by US$3.4m, substantial portions of which support measures and activities that enhance performance and increase revenue contributions.

As a result of these efforts, in 2024 the Ministry generated US$124.868m, surpassing its revenue projection of US$112.655m by 11%. In this fiscal year (FY2025), the trend shows that as at October 31, 2025, the Ministry had generated more than US$130m against a projection of US$143m, which revenue experts believe the Ministry will surpass by a substantial margin at the end of the fiscal period, if nothing dramatic happens to upset performance.

I am also excited to report here that the Ministry has requested the creation of a dedicated account for a percentage of fines and penalties for violations to be deposited and used by this Ministry to support compliance and litigation. Let me state here that as a result of the introduction of Administrative Hearing as provided by The Executive Law of Liberia pursuant to the due process principle in the 1986 Constitution and The Supreme Court’s opinion on due process, the Ministry has generated more than US$3m in fines and penalties for violations in this year alone.

Finally, in 2024 we did not just take over stewardship of a Ministry that was in dire need of revitalization. We took over an important Government institution that had been reduced to nothing, with employees and many of its key professionals demoralized and exposed to a cartel that is determined to hold Liberia’s mineral sector hostage and thereby stall rapid economic growth, development and expansion. We began last year by documenting the Ministry and the situation as we inherited it. The documentary, shown in one Cabinet Meeting last year, is available for reference.

We are therefore turning over an institution that is totally reborn, with the express optimism that one day, very soon, this Ministry, this important arm of the Executive Branch, will continue along this progressive trajectory, laboring to unlock the full potential of Liberia’s Energy and Mineral sectors. In short, after nearly two years of diligence and determination, the Ministry of Mines and Energy is no longer the cash cow it was for a few evil, greedy, insensitive and unpatriotic Liberians and their foreign collaborators. We cannot continue to be pushed around for peanuts while this Country sits on a pile of abundant minerals and natural wealth with the potential to transform it into a first-world Nation that is capable of installing all of the modern infrastructure it needs to become economically and financially independent.

Once again, I thank the President of Liberia for affording us the opportunity to serve during these twenty months. While some think the time “was too short” I must stress that the issue is not how long one stays in office. Instead, the focus, in my honest opinion, should always be on what is or was done during the period of service.

With twenty-four(24) vehicles and thirty(30) motorbikes in its fleet, two(2) Perkins Generators which may soon not be needed here at the Central Office, brand-new computers and their accessories, modern furniture and fixtures, fully air-conditioned offices providing conducive working environment, modern assorted equipment for valuation and testing, construction works on a Cafeteria and Site Clinic completed, Liberia Hydrological Service(LHS), a critical unit, now relocated from a rented building to a modern building situated in the premises of the Central Office, funding secured and procurement process for a new building that will accommodate the Liberia Geological Survey(LGS) concluded and construction work commenced, morale now very high among employees, office spaces to host the County Mine Offices acquired, accountability and transparency adopted as integral part of the organizational culture, public and investor confidence restored, this Ministry can lead the revolution for Liberia to take full custody of its mineral and energy potential.

GOD bless you. GOD bless the Ministry of Mines and Energy. GOD bless our President and expose the elements in our midst who think that Liberia’s destiny is perpetual poverty. And GOD bless this great Republic.

I thank you.