The West African nation of Liberia is conducting talks with parties who have a vested interest in the country's mining activities, with an eye to altering its laws covering the mining of diamonds and other ores. Seven hundred stake-holders have already been consulted and in August the government will hold its final talks with extra-parliamentary groups, before it begins to draft the new mining regulations. Once the new regulations have been compiled, they will be brought to the people for review, Diamond Intelligence reports.

The new rules for mining in Liberia will take into account the various changes and problems that plague the country's diamond industry. In September, the United Nations Secretary-General said that Liberia is not doing enough to combat the illegal diamond trade going on within its borders. Later in the month, Liberia revoked the licenses of diamond companies said to have been violating the terms of their concessions. In December, the UN noted that thousands of non-Liberians, more than 10,000 people from neighboring Sierra Leone, are living in the country and mining rough diamonds without the permission of authorities.