 Steve Cosser, an Australian pay-TV tycoon, proved receptive and came up with plans to mine the ore, while at the same time developing social programmes to benefit the people living there.In 2010, Cosser purportedly obtained a 72-year lease from the 23 families living on the land.Sable Mining Africa Limited claimed to have obtained a 50-year lease in a 7 April 2011 press release, but the government of Sierra Leone stated a week later that "all Mineral Resources within the confines of Bagla Hills is "(sic)" not for prospecting, exploration or mining, as they fall within a reserved area" and that it would begin an investigation of both Sable Mining and Cosser's Red Rock Mining (SL) Limited regarding the alleged lease acquisitions.