Nigeria Content Online

Sierra Leone
exported $51.4 million worth of diamonds in the first six months of
2010, up 43 percent on the first half of last year, according to a
government document seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

A global rebound in
diamond prices, augmented by government measures to encourage
production, accounts for the increase in value, said deputy minister of
mineral resources, Ignosis Koroma.

The West African
country shipped stones valued at $35.9 million in the first six months
of 2009, ending the year at exports worth $78 million.

Diamonds are a key
export for Sierra Leone, which is trying to rebuild its infrastructure
and economy after emerging in 2002 from a decade of civil war.

In July, Chinese
firm, Shandong Iron & Steel, bought 25 percent of African Minerals’
Tonkolili iron ore project in the country, a deal Sierra Leone’s mines
minister said had the potential to transform its economy by creating
thousands of jobs and boosting export revenues for the government.