SGCP and the future of Sierra Leone
yesterday I sent this e-mail to John. It's something to think about for long term.
What do you guys and girls think about starting something like this up?
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Dear Mr. John Semachko Jr.,
While we are waiting for the next report of production numbers, I was thinking about the future of SGCP and how we can be an even bigger, positive influence on the country of Sierra Leone .
I am aware of the extremely negative influence and lingering bad feelings over ‘Blood Diamonds’ in the recent history of Sierra Leone. However, it seems to me that there is a terrible waste of potential revenue for this poor country by exporting raw diamonds to neighboring countries at a small fraction of their true worth. Just imagine all the good things that could be done with a few million dollars from the profit of diamonds if they were processed from rough raw diamonds to polished and cut gems. How hard would it be to set up a small office in Freetown and have a couple of experienced diamond cutters spend a couple months there processing our largest diamonds. We could motivate them to go there by contracting them to keep a percentage of what they process and then we could donate half of our profit (or whatever seems fair) from this to local charities in Sierra Leon. If this is successful then we could expand by purchasing the raw diamonds from other mining companies within Sierra Leone. Maybe we could even call these “Freedom Diamonds” to give them a more positive appeal.
Wouldn’t that be a great thing to happen for the people of Sierra Leone? I’m thinking of all the food and clothes that could be purchased and distributed along with the schools and medical / dental clinics that could be paid for with this money. I’m sure that there are plenty of charities that could help in the planning and execution of this project. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Bill Clinton Foundation come to mind as possible sources of help in planning and organizing charities within Sierra Leone.
Sincerely,
Charlie
