African Minerals, an iron ore mining company is in the process of temporarily closing down its business in Sierra Leone due to insufficient working capital as Ebola struck.
The company has so far this year experienced a downfall of 50 percent in its Iron ore prices and this has also been as a result of the deadly Ebola virus that spread across West Africa and affected many businesses.
“In the absence of sufficient working capital, African Minerals has commenced a temporary controlled shutdown of its operations in Sierra Leone,” the company said in a statement.
Currently, the iron ore mining firm wants to dispose off part of stakes in the Tonkolili mine in Sierra Leone to raise funds after futile efforts of a recovery plan that was initiated in September this year to help in the repayment of large amounts of debts.
There has been no certainty that a positive deal will be forthcoming for the expected disposal, although the iron ore mining firm has said it was talking with “several groups.”
Shandong, African Minerals Chinese partner, has been supplying funds for the mine, cash that has been extracted from capital originally intended for expansion at Tonkolili. Recently, the company had expressed interest to buy Marampa mine at a cost of US$20million.