Sierra Leone diamond firm Koidu may go for listing

SIERRA Leone's only pit diamond mine has come far from its origins as wartime booty presented to mercenaries by a grateful military junta.

Seventeen years and several changes of ownership later, Koidu Holdings is selling gems in outlets such as US jeweller Tiffany & Co and considering a possible public listing, which could raise hundreds of millions of dollars to fund expansion. While burnt-out houses surrounding the mine in the eastern town of Koidu serve as a reminder of the West African country's 11-year civil war, which claimed some 50,000 lives before it ended in 2002, Koidu's managers see the operation as a success story that augurs a better future for Sierra Leoneans.