Top: A drone shot of Golden Trip Group Limited’s abandoned mine in the Kpeteyea town of Salayea District, Lofa County. The DayLight/Samuel Jabba
By T. Prince Mulbah, special for The DayLight
KPETEYEA, Lofa County – One day in May 2020, Chief Anthony Flomo joined townspeople to sign an MoU with a mining company. The five-year deal required Golden Trip Group Limited to pay Kpeteyea—a town in the Gbalin Clan of Salayea District—US$900 monthly, pave a major road with concrete bridges, and provide scholarships.
For the first time, the people of Kpeteyea felt their nightmare of bad roads, a lack of high school graduates and unsafe drinking water was over.
But what Chief Flomo and the townspeople did not know was that Golden Trip had issues. Between the signing and when the community’s realization, Golden Trip had dug several giant-sized pits, polluted watercourses, allegedly owed the community benefits, and evaded a substantial amount of taxes.
“Golden Trip really surprised me, because when they entered Kpeteyea, I thought it was a new day for us…,” said Chief Flomo, sitting under a tree where the Gold Trip MoU was signed.
“We thought the young people of this town were going to get good jobs, our children were going to sit in modern classrooms with safe drinking water,” he added.
Unauthorized mining
Golden Trip was established in April 2018 and is owned by Chein Haibin (75 percent), a Chinese national, and Randy Scott (25 percent), a Liberian businessperson, according to the company’s articles of incorporation.
In February 2020, it applied for a class ‘B’ or a medium-scale mining license on 98.3 acres in the Salayea District. Its application was approved three months later. However, the Ministry of Mines placed it under review in 2024 and has remained that way ever since.
Locals only discovered this information when Scott, Golden Trip’s Liberian co-owner, allegedly refused to present its documents. They had become suspicious after several companies claimed the same gold mine as Golden Trip, among other things.
Their suspicion pushed Arthur Quiah, then-Salayea District’s Mining Agent, to investigate. Quiah, a mines ministry representative in the region, established that Golden Trip’s particulars were incomplete and shut down its operations.
“I closed them because their document had expired and they did not have a current document. Their document was not proper, and the false one that I took from them… expired,” Quiah told the DayLight in a telephone interview. Quiah, who has now been replaced, presented no evidence.
Also, it is unclear whether the Ministry of Mines took any action against Golden Trip for its illegal activities, though operating without a valid mining license violates the Minerals and Mining Law, which carries a fine, a prison term, or both for convicted offenders.
Randy Scott, Golden Trip’s minority shareholder, denies Quiah’s accusation. Scott, questioning Quiah’s employment status with the ministry, said Quiah was unaware of the situation.
“How will he close me down when the Ministry of Mines is still sending me communications?” Scott, who has been linked to several mining companies, quipped. “Arthur Quiah lied.”
Meanwhile, the people of Kpeteyea have seized Golden Trip’s properties until it pays all debts it allegedly owes the community. Golden Trip owes Kpeteyea US$8,100 in monthly dues, two hand pumps, a guesthouse, three bridges, and the renovation of a school building, among others, according to Chief Flomo.
“I swear these people lied to us, but thank God their materials are still here. If they cannot pay our US$8,100, and implement the projects we agreed on in the MoU, nobody will take any machine from here,” said Chief Flomo.
Scott denies being indebted to Kpeteyea, dubbing the town’s claim as “nonsense.” He, who had said last year he would resume work this year, now said he had moved from the area.
“Let them take [the equipment],” he told The DayLight in a phone interview. “The government issued the license to different persons; I don’t have [anything] to do over there again.” There is no record of the new company Scott mentioned.
Bogeyman holes
Reporters documented Golden Trip’s mining footprints in Kpeteyea. There were huge, open mining pits locally known as bogeyman holes for being death-traps. There were traces of muddy water running into the Wainda River from mining activities. There was a network of pipes meant to channel water from the rover, which flows into the St. Paul River, and is used by locals for drinking.
Chief Flomo told the DayLight that farmers discovered dead fish floating on the river and the riverbank. It has been polluted with chemicals.
“People were complaining that they had lots of dead fish in the water, but we were really confused about who did the act. Actually, we never discovered what killed the fish, so we advised the citizens not to use the water,” added Flomo. A group of wildcat miners from faraway and near, digging the open pits, confirmed the townspeople’s story.
Scott squashed those claims as a “lazy argument” from the people of Kpeteyea. He claims that the pipes in the river were used to fetch water to his camp.
“Look, mercury? That is a lazy argument. My company was working in the place, and we needed water, which is why you saw pipes in the river. Besides, if fish were dying, then I don’t know why,” added Scott.
The DayLight could not independently verify that claim. However, locals’ descriptions of the alleged pollution are consistent with cyanide poisoning, since mercury kills fish gradually through long-term exposure.
Scott also denies Golden Trip left behind bogeyman holes, a common cause of mine collapses nationwide, including one of the deadliest in River Cess two years ago.
“I never dug in pits. I dug in a mountain,” said Scott. “I never worked on a low ground. You can’t cover the mountain. Who can cover a mountain? Is a mountain a hole?”
The mining law does not support Scott’s claims. The law requires a company to restore the land or watercourse to its previous state. It does not provide an exception for montane or flat areas.
No work permit
It is unclear how much gold Golden Trip produced, as the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s records show the company did not export any minerals.
Scott corroborated that information, claiming Golden Trip did not find gold in Kpeteyea. “If I were getting minerals, would I leave from there?” He asked rhetorically.
It was the third reason Scott provided for Golden Trip’s inactivity in Kpeteyea. He had first blamed the local community and later “human errors” on his license.
But the scale of Golden Trip’s operations and the interviews with townspeople tell a different story. Chinese and Liberian workers dug huge pits and piled up gravel in their search for tiny gold nuggets. Four Chinese teams mined the area in Golden Trip’s name. Company executives made frequent trips in the north-western countryside day and night, said Charles Vesselee, a Kpeteyea youth.
“What do you mean? Randy Scott Golden Trip company never took gold from here?” He reacted to The DayLight’s findings. “That’s not true. Then why are trucks and Land Cruiser cars moving day and night? I beg you yaaa! Those guys carried minerals from here,” said Vesselee.
The mystery surrounding Golden Trip’s production is not the only issue. Turns out, none of the 16 foreign workers it brought into Liberia between 2021 and 2023 obtained work permits, according to official records. The Ministry of Labor confirmed this, except for one Zing Wei.
Also, the records establish that the workers obtained a resident permit. However, only four workers’ statuses were renewed. For instance, the residential status of Guangxian Li, a Chinese national who arrived in Liberia at some point, was renewed in 2023 after being skipped in 2022.
Similarly, the one for Hang Lu, another Chinese, who arrived in 2021, was only renewed in 2023. The Liberia Immigration Service said it did not have a record for any of the 16 workers.
The DayLight reviewed Gold Trip’s tax history and found that it failed to renew its license from 2021 until it was shut down in 2024. There was no payment for an environmental permit, a requirement for medium-scale mining.
Based on those findings, Golden Trip evaded tens of thousands of United States dollars in license fees, work, and resident permits, according to official records and fee structures.
The DayLight noted one more irregularity with Golden Trip, though. Official records show that Mr. Chein, the company’s majority shareholder, does not reside or work in Liberia.
Scott confirmed that Mr. Chein did not live or work in Liberia. However, he claims his Chinese business partner is not required to do so.
But that claim is incorrect. The mining law requires that a non-Liberian who holds up to 60 percent shares in a company with a medium-scale license be legally permitted to live and work in Liberia. The license empowers Liberian businesspersons to boost the country’s economy.
This content is produced by The DayLight with support from the Embassy of Ireland through Integrity Watch Liberia. The DayLight maintained editorial independence over its content, which does not reflect the position of the Embassy of Ireland or Integrity Watch Liberia.