Mines & Energy Ministry  Unravels  Remedy to Ben-Ben Town Dispute -Points to UTM-Coordinate as Significant to Resolve

MONROVIA – After a day-long engagement with residents of Ben-Ben Town and its environs who are locked down in a longstanding mining dispute, the Ministry of Mines and Energy reports that resolving the conflict now hinges on the use of cloud technology through UTM-Coordinates.

Chairing the fact-finding meeting held in Ben-Ben Town on Sunday, March 30, 2025, the Deputy Minister for Operations of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, William Hines, told the gathering that scientific information indicated on two Licenses submitted to his team of investigators will be ‘properly verified’ by dispatching a technical team to run UTM-Coordinates.

According to Deputy Minister Hines, the cloud technology which uses google-map system, will clearly determine which of the two Licenses owns the mining pit at the center of the disputes.

Additionally, Deputy Minister Hines and team informed the residents of Ben-Ben Town and adjacent towns that as part of the Government’s efforts to make sure a lasting solution is reached in the Ben-Ben Town mining dispute, the Mines and Energy Ministry will conduct a re-survey of meets and bounds reflected on the two Licenses that were produced during the March 30, 2025 meeting.

Before the weekend’s meeting, Minister Wilmot Paye, along with a team of Deputy and Assistant Ministers had met in audience two citizens’ groups from Ben-Ben Town who had gathered at the Ministry on March 23, 2025, with appeals for the Ministry to resolve their conflicts, claiming that the November 29, 2024 moratorium placed on mining activities in their area was posing economic difficulties to them.

Their conflict which led to the Ministry’s stay-order claimed the lives of two persons, caused bodily injuries to contending parties, and damage to properties. Deputy Minister Hines’ fact-finding team included the Assistant Minster for Mines, Carlos Edison Tingban, Deputy Inspector-Genral, Adolphus Gleekia, Mining Agent, Henry Yates, and other technical staff from the Ministry.