The Gambian Government has jailed a British mining engineer and kicked out his London-listed company amid accusations of uranium-smuggling.

Charlie Northfield, 48, a British engineer employed by Carnegie Minerals, was detained by police last week and is being held in a Gambian jail. The Government has accused Carnegie, an AIM-listed miner, of stealing uranium and titanium and of smuggling them out of the country.

The company has begun a fight to get Mr Northfield released and has written off its Gambian assets. Mr Northfield is married with three children and comes from Plymouth.

Carnegie began mining mineral sands in the small West African nation last year, exporting illmenite to be used in paints and industrial processes. It was the first mining operation to set up in Gambia in 50 years. Like many African countries, Gambia wants to take advantage of the boom in commodity prices and establish mining industries from which it can earn royalties. Mining companies are encouraged to invest in infrastructure and provide healthcare for local communities in return for extraction licenses.

The mineral sands that Carnegie was mining are beach deposits that contain titanium and iron. Last month the authorities asked to see documentation on the minerals and then accused Carnegie of stealing these metals, as well as uranium. Carnegie has denied the claims and said that there was no uranium of mining grade within its mineral sands.

Alan Hopkins, Carnegie's managing director, said: “What is motivating this I cannot speculate, we were just trying to develop this project and be a good corporate citizen. We will now focus on getting our man out.”

Mining analysts said that unless the Gambian authorities could provide clear evidence of a criminal conspiracy by Carnegie, its actions would be seen as asset seizure and would deter potential mining investors.

In 1999 Gambia seized the assets of Allimenta, a Swiss groundnut producer. The Gambian Embassy in London did not answer calls.

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