This is the second of a two-part series on a logging contract and a mining license in a community forest in Gbarpolu County.

GBARQUOITA -- In June, the Bondi Mandingo Community Forest signed a logging agreement with Kisvan Timber Corporation, a logging company, to exploit 37,222 hectares of forest in Bopolu District, Gbarpolu County. However, it is the second contract in the same area, an irregularity.

Nine months earlier, the government issued an exploration license to the JM Mining Company, a mining firm, on 297 square kilometers that overlaps the community forest, according to the Ministry of Mines and Energy's records. Community people are concerned that this could lead to clashes between the two companies.

"This mining thing is a threat to our community. We are concerned because the logs that Kisvan wants are the same logs that JM Mining is cutting down and burying in the forest," said Mark Dennis, the chief officer of the community forest.

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"Their exploration has been going on for two years now. They are doing it in the Kpo Mountain area, and we are afraid that they will give the loggers problems," added Stanford David, General Town Chief of the Bondi Clan.

JM Mining operated illegally in the forest before its current exploration license. In July 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fined it US$95,000 for operating without an environmental permit. The EPA found that the company contaminated a major watercourse local communities depend on for safe drinking water.

Though JM Mining was awarded a license for the area, Bondi Mandingo said it did not consent to the company's operations in the mountainous forestland.

"There was no prior information. We only saw them here. They told us that they obtained a license from the government," Dennis said in an interview with The DayLight in Bopolu. "They said we don't have anything to do with their exploration business until the company signs an agreement with the government."

Bondi Mandingo is authorized as a community forest with the Forestry Development Authority (FDA). In December 2018, it signed its first commercial contract with Indo Africa Plantations Liberia Incorporated, but terminated the contract after the company failed to meet its obligations and abandoned thousands of logs.

In February, Bondi Mandingo wrote the Ministry of Mines and Energy over the "provocative mining situation." It was unclear whether they got a reply.

But in a statement to The DayLight, the Ministry of Mines justified its decision. "The Ministry of Mines and Energy awards exploration licenses in community forests, because the Ministry believes that exploration is a research license and hence exploration and logging can co-exist or take place in the same forest," the statement read.

The statement was a slight turnaround from its previous position. In 2019, the ministry said it does not recognize community forestry, and it echoed that point last year. It awards licenses based on the constitutional principle that the state owns all mineral resources, except national parks, graveyards and cities.

A draft minerals and mining law recognizes community forestry and ancestral land ownership. However, the proposal has stalled over the last two years, and civil society is now pushing for it again. Created in 2000, the Minerals and Mining Law of Liberia is the oldest in the Mano River region.

Kisvan did not respond to queries.

JM Mining said it could not get the community's consent because it only had an exploration license. An exploration license lasts for three years and can be extended by another two years. After that, it can pursue a mineral development agreement, which would grant it the right to mine the area for 25 years.

"When that is done, we will come back to the community and sit and talk," said Hillary Simmons, an official of JM Mining. "Until that can happen, we have no such dealings with the community regarding benefits, because nothing has really started."

The Community Rights Law..., contradicts the Ministry of Mines and JM Mining's comments. The 2009 law guarantees a community's consent regarding any use of their forest resources. Furthermore, Bondi Mandingo would have to alter its agreement with the FDA to accommodate any mining activities.

The Community of Forest and Environmental Journalists of Liberia (CoFEJ) produced this story. It first appeared in The DayLight, and now here as part of an editorial collaboration.