Interim mines minister commissions committee to showcase Cameroon’s mining potentials.

The commissioning ceremony held simultaneously with the reception of a new building to host some departments of the ministry of mines. 

The building, located at the Mvog-Ada neighbourhood of Yaounde, played host to the ministry’s weekly evaluation meeting on mining activities yesterday Monday July 1. 

The 6-storey building, made available by the Ministry of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure, MINDCAF, comprises some fifty offices. 

It will house the Mining Block, notably the Directorate of Mines, the Directorate of Geology, and the Geology and Mining Information Centre, CIGM. 

“We are very happy to receive this structure where the departments of mines, geology and the Centre for Geology and Mines will be having their bases. It is very important to secure our information and we want to thank the Minister of Land Tenure for this act which comes to facilitate a lot of work,” Prof Fuh Calistus stated. 

Strategic committee set in motion 

The strategic committee commissioned by the minister is made up of mining and geology engineers, lawyers, economists, statisticians, amongst others. 

The committee is charged with carrying out a comparative study to draw up a statistical document on the percentage of each mineral, and to develop a database on mining potentials and mining projects.

According to the minister, the committee, which also has a mandate to highlight Cameroon's ranking on the African continent, has up to one month to submit its report.

“I just installed a committee that is going to produce us a data base that will be a kind of comparative study to show the position of Cameroon vis-à-vis many things like the potentials, the number projects going on and our legislations compared to other countries. How are we doing in relations to our major competitors,” he said. 

Prof Fuh Calistus emphasised that his ministry is bent on ensuring transparency in all its activities and the mining sector in general. 

“Every Cameroonian should know that geological information, the mining conventions, the licences and every other thing that concerns this ministry are on our website,” he said, adding that: “people should visit the website as everything we do at this ministry is with a high degree of transparency. This new office is also available to all to access information”. 

What must be done

During the meeting with members of the strategic committee, the minister harped on the need for more information about Cameroon’s mining potentials and activities to made available to the public in order to pull more investors in the sector and spur the country’s development thrive. 

While emphasising on the need for those in the geology department to be active, he frowned at the fact that Cameroon is one of the countries in Africa with the lowest annual investment in exploration. 

This, he said, is due to the high rate of inactive exploration permit granted over the years. 

“The more information we have, the more value we give to our country. That is why geology should be very proactive. Those permits that are not active, we cannot keep the permits for more than twenty years with no information. They must be given to those that are active,” he said. 

Citing the example of the North Region, the minister said statistics show that out of 55 permits granted, only one is active and have been transformed into a mine site.

“If we want mining to advance in this country, we must dedicate ourselves to exploration,” he emphasised.

“We are not giving exploration licences to those who have money. People have taken the industry hostage and are keeping all the permits. What is prospering is artisanal mining which is damaging the environment,” the minister regretted. 

“We have to dedicate special areas for artisanal mining which is mechanised and we have to allow pure artisanal mining for the local people supported by the Ministry of Mines and the councils,” the minister concluded. 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No: 3156 of Tuesday July 02, 2024