Liberia Closes China Union's Bong Mines For Violations, Regulator Says

MONROVIA (Reuters) - Liberia's Environmental Protection Agency shut down on Wednesday the operations of China Union's iron ore Bong Mines for violating several environmental regulations, the regulatory agency said on Thursday.

China Union took over the Bong Mines, located around 150 km (94 miles) northeast of the capital Monrovia, with a $2.6-billion investment in 2008. It made its first shipment of iron ore in 2014.

The agency said it shut down Bong Mines for operating without an effluent discharge license, building a processing plant without a permit and discharging tailings into a wetland.

It said it had flagged these violations twice since June and fined the company, to which it did not respond.

"China Union blatantly ignored the EPA warnings and continued to operate without any environmental permits, continuing its environmental degradation and pollution," the agency said in a statement.

The shutdown will remain in force "until full compliance is achieved and the identified environmental concerns are duly addressed", it added.

China Union could not be immediately reached for comment outside office hours.

Iron is abundant in Liberia but the sector was decimated by decades of under-investment. Production at the Bong Mines stopped during a conflict that lasted from 1989 to 2003.

(Reporting by James Harding GiahyueWriting by Sofia Christensen; editing by Diane Craft and Rod Nickel)