By Sami Zaptia.
London, 7 September 2021:
Libya’s Privatisation and Investment Board (PIB) reported on Sunday that the country’s Ministry of Economy and Trade has granted gold mining rights to the Blue Castle Mining Company.
The licence was granted according to Libya’s Law No. 2 of 1971 regarding mines and quarries, which stipulates in Article 8 that ‘‘the granting of a license to prospect and an investment contract is in return for a royalty or rent or both’’ and that the values of royalties and rents belong to the National Mining Corporation.
The PIB said this move comes within the framework of the national plan to activate the national economy with the aim of institutionalizing the economy and moving from an informal to a formal economy, due to the emergence of many unofficial and illegal acts in the field of trade in gold and precious metals.
It also comes within the government’s desire to diversify the incomes of the national economy and reduce dependence on oil as the sole source of public income.
To this end, the PIB’s Investment Promotion Law No. 9 of 2010 and its executive regulations were activated, allowing for investment in various economic activities and giving priority to the national investor and local capital and opening the door for competition to invest in various fields.
The PIB said that there are many advantages of prospecting for gold in Libya for the Libyan economy, including:
1- Completion of geological and geochemical studies to ascertain the existence of this ore or not.
2- Diversifying the national economy’s income if this ore is available in economic quantities
3- Spatial development of areas in which the presence of ore has been confirmed
4- Providing job opportunities for locals.
5- Framing and legalizing the trade in gold and precious metals and institutionalizing this activity.
6- Preventing Libya from making a corridor for the smuggling of gold and precious metals from the areas of their availability in Africa to global markets because of the responsibilities and consequences thereof in accordance with the international laws regulating this trade.
7- Stimulating national capital and giving it priority in investing in the natural sources of wealth in Libya and not relying on foreign expertise and companies.
