CAPITOL HILL, Nov. 20 -- When Liberia and Guinea signed the Implementation Agreement in October 2019, it was celebrated as a model of cross-border cooperation, a legal framework meant to ensure that any Guinean mining company seeking access to Liberian rail and port infrastructure would do so transparently, fairly and with the explicit consent of both governments.

Fast forward to the proposed Concession and Access Agreement (CAA) between Liberia and Ivanhoe Liberia (HPX/SMFG), and major questions now hang over whether the procedures laid out in that bilateral Agreement were ever respected.

The Liberian Senate has already demanded "documentary evidence" proving Guinea's consent before debating the Ivanhoe agreement. Representative Alex N...