Area 1

The Area 1 project is a rutile (with ilmenite and zircon as by-products) mining operation located in the Bonthe and Moyamba districts in the southern province of Sierra Leone. The project will have potential negative impacts on Critically Endangered western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus). The project is run by Sierra Rutile Limited (SRL) which is a subsidiary of Iluka Resources and has already been in operation for almost 60 years. The project is aligning its expansion activities in Area 1 to IFC PS6 given that IFC is one of the lenders for the project. The ARRC Task Force was contacted initially in 2020 to review the project’s Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP). The relationship between the ARRC Task Force and SRL is ongoing.