As Carnegie Minerals’ Deadline Gets Extended

President Yahya Jammeh last Friday announced the discovery of Uranium and four other minerals in the country. The other minerals are Titanium, Iron, Zirconium, and Silicon.

Below  is the full text of the president’s announcement:

Fellow Gambians, first of all I want to congratulate you on the occasion of Yowmul Ashura, which is the Islamic New year. I also want to thank you for the massive show of support and solidarity yesterday for the first anniversary of major breakthrough. If you remember a few years ago, when I was announcing the discovery of oil in The Gambia, at that time I remember telling you Gambians and non-Gambians alike in this country that Gambia has strategic mineral resources which then I said I was not going to announce but later on at the right moment we will tell you what some of the minerals are. Today am very happy to announce to you that we have discovered proven reserves of titanium in the Gambia. The Americans call it tai-ta-nium. We also have iron in the country. We also have zirconium, as well as silicon. But the biggest discovery is the discovery of uranium in The Gambia. The presence of uranium in The Gambia. At that time we couldn’t make such announcements, not that because I was not certain about it, but because before we make such important announcements we have take care of our security and defence to put in a mechanism that can defend this country effectively. Not that at that time we couldn’t defend our country as required, but since some of the minerals are of strategic importance, we are to make sure that we have put in a mechanism that can defend this country’s sovereignty effectively. On this very joyous moment of Yowmul Ashura and the discovery of these strategic minerals. I would repeat, TITANIUM, IRON, ZIRCONIUM, SILICON and URANIUM.

Of course I have more surprises for you later in the year, but I want to make sure that whatever I pronounce is a reality. As far as we are concerned, these minerals I have talked about, we are 100 percent certain that they are in this country and they can be exploited. On this note I wish you a happy Yowmal Ashura.

These minerals can be useful; they can also be useless, God forbid. They can only be useful if we Gambians close ranks and work as Gambians. Change our attitude, love each other and defend our country to the last person. Of course we have divergence of political views, but that should not translate into enmity and hostility between us. Gambia will be a great super power as I told you, if we work together. Not a military super power, that is not a super power. That is a super bully. I’m talking of a super power of hope for humanity, super power of love, a country where all people, irrespective of their race, their religion or origin can live together in peace as the Almighty Allah wants His creation to live together in peace. We can achieve that. In fact we are achieving that but we can go to the sky if we want to if we all change our attitude and work for the interest of our country, for our own interest.

When these minerals are exploited, you cannot imagine the number of youth that are going to be employed, but you the youth of these country who will be the primary beneficiaries of all these discoveries must change your attitude, must look inwards and not outwards. There is no country where you can earn money easily without working. Even stealing is working because you end up going to jail where you work harder for nothing. Let us love one another, let us respect our country, live and die for our country. I wish you all the best.

In a separate but related development, the Office of the President also extended the deadline for Carnegie Minerals to explain their operations in The Gambia to today, 21st January by 1400hrs. The release explained that the concerned company has already been duly notified and that the consequences of their failure to comply would include the cancellation of their mining license, in addition to “more stringent measures.”