A millionaire who started out in business with a stall at Greatie Market is now buying a gold mine.
David Webster, 55, started working on his family's household goods stall at Toxteth and Great Homer Street Markets at the age of 14.
He went on to make his fortune in property investments, but now as the coronavirus pandemic threatens that sector, he's looking to make a very different kind of purchase.
Along with his two sons, Jake and Curtis, David, who is from Toxteth, has spent seven years in West Africa gaining experience in mining, buying and exporting gold for third properties.
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The huge purchase is set to cost David £7.75 million, as he looks to buy a 60sq.mile working mine in the Siguiri region of Guinea.
Ahead of the multi-million pound investment, David said he recognised that gold was still a lucrative market for him to invest in.
He said: "The double hit of a human and economic crisis means gold is in increasing demand. At the same time, it is a finite resource and production has not really increased in the past four years.”
David said he'll be working together with locals in the area to get the best knowledge.
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He added: "Our policy will be to contract experienced mining experts, backed by locals with huge knowledge of the area and the artesanal mining industry to develop small scale extractions in the most promising areas of the opencast operation.
“We have provided all the pump priming funding and purchase deposit ourselves and now we are in a position to offer opportunities to high net worth individuals to be part of this exciting initiative and share in the returns."
