Metal Detecting Laws in Sierra Leone

Excavating an ancient monument or ancient working requires the Monuments and Relics Commission’s written consent.

• This provision concerns ancient monuments and ancient workings; it is not a permit rule for all hobby digging on all land.
• Follow the conditions imposed in the consent and under the Ordinance.

Altering, damaging, destroying, or removing a monument or relic from its original site requires the Monuments and Relics Commission’s written consent.

• Section 13(1) covers a national monument, monument or relic, or any part of it.
• Consent to removal does not settle ownership of the object.

A finder’s ownership of ordinary lost property, buried treasure, or a heritage discovery could not be confirmed.

• Section 11 gives the Commission an option to acquire a discovered ancient monument, relic or ethnographical article with compensation to its owner; it does not identify the finder as that owner.

Report a discovered ancient monument, relic or ethnographical article in writing to the Monuments and Relics Commission without delay.

• The discoverer must report; the owner or occupier must also report when the discovery comes to their notice.
• This row covers the statutory heritage categories, not every ordinary modern lost item.

The reporting or surrender duty for ordinary modern lost property or non-heritage treasure could not be confirmed.

• The heritage reporting duty applies to its defined heritage categories; it is not evidence of a reporting rule for every lost item.

The current permission rule for salvage or breaking up wrecked vessels could not be confirmed.

• The captured 2003 Act section 369(3) makes salvage or breaking-up operations on a vessel or a wrecked, submerged, sunken or stranded vessel lying within Sierra Leone an offence without the Receiver’s prior written permission.
• Section 370 extends the removal provisions to articles forming part of tackle, cargo, stores or ballast; this is separate from ordinary beach detecting.

Whether the forestry vegetation-clearance licence requirement applies to coastal beaches and foreshore could not be confirmed.

• Regulation 38 refers to land between high and low watermarks and land above high-water mark on both banks of rivers and large streams; its heading concerns clearing forests on stream banks.
• The restriction concerns farming, clearing vegetation, or removing trees or vegetation; it does not establish a detector-sweeping rule.
• The source names the Chief Conservator or an officer deputed by that official; no current coastal licensing authority is confirmed here.

The current ownership rule for unclaimed wreck could not be confirmed.

• The captured 2003 Act section 366 gives unclaimed wreck to the Government, except where it has granted another person the right to wreck.
• Sections 364 and 367 provide an owner-claim process and disposal after six months in the Receiver’s possession; they do not give the finder a general right to keep wreck.

The current reporting and surrender duties for wreck finds could not be confirmed.

• The captured 2003 Act section 361 requires notice to the Receiver of Wreck when a person, including the owner, finds or takes possession of wreck within Sierra Leone, or brings wreck found outside into Sierra Leone.
• Section 362 permits the Receiver to require delivery by written notice; section 361 states no express reporting deadline.

The current rule for excavation and target recovery in National Parks, Strict Natural Reserves and Game Reserves could not be confirmed.

• Section 7 of the captured 1972 text prohibits excavation and work altering soil configuration in National Parks, Strict Natural Reserves and Game Reserves, subject to authorization under the Act or regulations.
• Section 26 of that text allows the Chief Conservator of Forests or a person acting on that official’s instructions to perform the section 7 acts; the 2022 amendment substitutes Director of Forestry in the Act.
• The principal Act’s appointed commencement date has not been established by the captured evidence; the restrictions are described here as provisions of that text, not a confirmed current verdict.

The current authorization rule for recovering targets from national or community forests could not be confirmed.

• The quoted taking-of-earth wording comes from section 9 of the 1988 bill and is not presented as operative law.
• The 2022 amendment replaces section 28 with offences for specified activities without lawful authority; it does not establish the bill’s listed authorization routes.

Clearing vegetation for recovery along rivers and large streams requires a forestry clearance licence in the areas specified by regulation 38.

• Regulation 38 covers land between high and low watermarks and land extending one hundred feet above high-water mark on both banks of rivers and large streams.
• The restriction concerns farming, clearing vegetation, or removing trees or vegetation; it does not establish a detector-sweeping rule.
• The regulation names the Chief Conservator or a deputed officer; the current title of that issuing authority has not been confirmed.