Sierra Leone

=== Mining ===

{{Further|Mining in Sierra Leone}}

Rich in minerals, Sierra Leone has relied on mining, especially diamonds, for its economic base. The country is among the top ten diamond producing nations. Mineral exports remain the main [[currency]] earner. Sierra Leone is a major producer of gem-quality diamonds. Though rich in diamonds, it has historically struggled to manage their exploitation and export.

Sierra Leone is known for its [[blood diamond]]s that were mined and sold to diamond conglomerates during the [[Sierra Leone Civil War|civil war]], to buy the weapons that fuelled its atrocities.<ref>{{cite news|title=UN targets 'blood diamonds' trade|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3117421.stm|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=28 April 2011|date=1 August 2003}}</ref> In the 1970s and early 1980s, economic growth rate slowed because of a decline in the mining sector and increasing corruption among government officials.

{|class="wikitable infobox" style="margin-right: 0; margin-left: 1em; text-align:right;"
|+ style="font-size: 115%;" |Percentage of GDP by sector (2007)<ref name="AFEC"/>
|-
! scope="col" |Rank
! scope="col" |Sector
! scope="col" |Percentage<br /> of GDP
|-
! scope="row" |1
|Agriculture
|58.5
|-
! scope="row" |2
|Other services
|10.4
|-
! scope="row" |3
|Trade and tourism
|9.5
|-
! scope="row" |4
|Wholesale and retail trade
|9.0
|-
! scope="row" |5
|Mining and quarrying
|4.5
|-
! scope="row" |6
|Government Services
|4.0
|-
! scope="row" |7
|Manufacturing and handicrafts
|2.0
|-
! scope="row" |8
|Construction
|1.7
|-
! scope="row" |9
|Electricity and water
|0.4
|}

Annual production of Sierra Leone's diamond estimates a range between US$250 million–$300&nbsp;million. Some of that is [[Smuggling|smuggled]], where it is possibly used for [[money laundering]] or financing illicit activities. Formal exports have dramatically improved since the civil war, with efforts to improve the management of them having some success. In October 2000, a UN-approved certification system for exporting diamonds from the country was put in place which led to a dramatic increase in legal exports. In 2001, the government created a mining community development fund ([[Ministry of Mineral Resources (Sierra Leone)|DACDF]]), which returns a portion of diamond export taxes to diamond mining communities. The fund was created to raise local communities' stakes in the legal diamond trade.

Sierra Leone has one of the world's largest deposits of [[rutile]], a [[titanium]] ore used as [[paint]] pigment and [[welding]] rod coatings.