Mining sector: Biya's vision on good footing.

MINIM-MARTAP BAUXITE PROJECT: CAMALCO S.A. is in charge of mining this mineral in the Adamawa Region, with proven reserves of 99.1 million tonnes of bauxite containing 51% alumina and 2.4% silica, which can be mined over a period of twenty (20) years. The project comprises the following components: construction of the open-cast mine, development of a road section between the extraction site and the Makor railway station, development of the mineral station, rehabilitation of the railway between Makor and Douala, construction of a mineral terminal at the Douala Port Authority and a feasibility study for the construction of the bauxite-to-alumina processing unit.

As things stand at present:

-The Ministry in charge of sector has granted a Declaration of Public Utility (DUP) for the open-pit mine. The design of the mine has already been completed and the mining list for the import of materials and equipment to be used in the development and construction phase of the mine has been submitted to the Ministers in charge of Mines and Finance in order to benefit from the customs exemptions provided for in the Mining Code;

-As regards the road section between the extraction site and the Makor station, which is 45 km long, detailed topographical studies and engineering work have been completed, leading the Ministry of Public Works to grant the necessary authorisations to CAMALCO for the construction of this section;

-The location of the mineral station has been validated by the Ministry of Transport (MINT), and construction will take seven (07) months. In the same vein, MINT has granted CAMALCO authorisation to manufacture and import locomotives and wagons to be used for transporting bauxite. The related work will also take seven (07) months.

-With regard to the rehabilitation of the 600 km long railway between Makor and Douala, CAMALCO has undertaken to finance comfort works on the existing rail, estimated by MINT and CAMRAIL at 4.5 billion FCFA. This work will enable between five hundred thousand and one million tonnes of bauxite to be transported over a period of eighteen (18) months. This quantity will increase to three (03) million tonnes in 2027 and 06 million tonnes by 2030. An agreement between the State and CAMALCO will be signed in the next few days to establish the rules for this rehabilitation. The work will last six (06) months.

-As for the mineral terminal, the Autonomous Port of Douala has granted CAMALCO a dedicated 6.5-hectare site.

-Feasibility studies for the bauxite-to-alumina unit are currently being carried out by Deloitte, and the first draft will be submitted to MINMIDT in September 2026. 

-MINEPDED has issued the environmental certificate of conformity for the mine and has validated the Terms of Reference for the environmental and social impact studies for the road, the mining station and other related infrastructure.

In view of this very significant progress, MINMIDT and CAMALCO are planning to start exporting bauxite in nine (09) months' time.

GRAND-ZAMBI IRON PROJECT: G-STONES RESOURCES S.A, the company in charge of mining the ore at Bipindi Grand-Zambi in the Southern Region, whose reserves are estimated at 150 million tonnes with an average grade of 29.45%, exploitable over a period of twenty (20) years, remains on course for the first exports in 2025. 

On the site:

-Open-pit mining has begun, with more than six hundred (600) thousand tonnes of ore stockpiled;

-A crusher with a capacity of three hundred (300) tonnes/hour has already been installed; 

-As for the ore processing unit, which is currently being installed, KPDC has agreed to supply the energy needed to power the unit and to start processing and enriching the ore, with a view to first production of around one million tonnes of iron concentrate, scheduled for the end of June 2025;

-In terms of related infrastructure, an MTN pillar covering a radius of forty (40) km is already operational and provides the network beyond the project area, to the delight of local residents. Construction of the base camp and the secondary road to the Kribi Autonomous Port is currently being finalised. Construction of the road linking the G-STONES crossroads to the extraction site, which is seven (07) km long, has been completed.

-On the subject of ore exports, the Autonomous Port of Kribi has granted G-STONES a 2.5 hectare area for the storage and export of iron concentrate from existing PAK facilities.

KRIBI-LOBE IRON PROJECT: SINOSTEEL CAM S.A, the company in charge of mining this ore in the Southern Region, whose reserves are estimated at six hundred and thirty-two (632) million tonnes with an average grade of 33%, exploitable over a period of twenty (20) years, remains focused on the first exports in 2026. 

On the site:

- On the open-pit side, ore is extracted and stockpiled in the dedicated area;

- As for the beneficiation unit, a magnetic separation section and a concentration section are currently being installed to produce four (04) million tonnes of iron concentrate at more than 62%;

- As for energy, the equipment needed to build a coal-fired power plant with a capacity of fifty (50) megawatts is available;

- In addition, the construction of a living quarters facility with a capacity of one thousand (1,000) homes is underway;

- As for related infrastructure, the road section between the extraction site and the Kribi Autonomous Port has been completed and negotiations are underway for the demarcation of the site to be used for the construction of the ore terminal as provided for in the Mining Convention signed between the State of Cameroon and SINOSTEEL CAM S.A..

MBALAM IRON PROJECT: CAMEROON MINING COMPANY (CMC) is in charge of mining this ore in the Eastern and Southern Regions. Reserves are estimated at eight hundred and five (805) million tonnes with an average grade of 62.3%, exploitable over a period of twenty (20) years. 

On the site:

- The Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) conditioning unit is currently being installed;

- In terms of infrastructure, the trucks needed to transport the ore by road to the Autonomous Port of Kribi are in the process of being acquired, pending the mobilisation of financing and the construction of the railway covered by a contract between the State and the Bestway company; 

- As for the transport of ore by road, the road section between Mbalam and PAK is currently being upgraded by MINTP. MINMIDT has also demanded that the transport of iron ore by road be conditional on the signing of an agreement with a strategic partner and the start of construction of the railway, as provided for in the Mining Convention.

COLOMINE GOLD PROJECT: CODIAS S.A. is in charge of exploiting the Colomine gold mine in the Eastern Region, whose reserves are estimated at five hundred (500) thousand tonnes of ore and a quantity of gold metal of 1867.42 kg.

As part of the implementation of the Very High Instructions given by the Head of State in his address to the Nation on 31 December 2023, solid mining, and in particular gold, is to be used as an exceptional source of financial resources to help broaden the tax base in the face of the drastic fall in oil revenues due to dwindling stocks,

During his first working visit in 2023 to the gold mining site of CODIAS S.A., which signed the Mining Convention with the State of Cameroon on 29 November 2019 and holds the Colomine small gold mine operating licence awarded on 14 December 2022, the Minister for Mines noted that the company was struggling to produce 3 to 4 kg of gold per month, contrary to the commitments made in the Mining Convention, which provides for production of 41.6 kg per month, i.e. 500 kg per year. 

In order to provide appropriate solutions for achieving the production targets set out in the Mining Agreement, the Ministry of Mines has ordered CODIAS to use a closed washing system to recover the gold, with the advantage of increasing production yields. For this reason, CODIAS obtained the customs exemptions provided for in the Mining Code for the acquisition of equipment to be used in the construction of its closed-vessel mineralized gravel processing unit.

During the recent visit in June 2025 to assess the state of progress of the construction work on the said unit, the Minister in charge of mines welcomed the fact that the said work was actually being carried out. Exploitation of this underground mine, which is already forty (40) metres deep, using chambers and pillars, will supply CODIAS's closed-cycle gold processing unit, with a view to increasing production from 3 to 4 kg per month to a short-term projection of fifty (50) kg per month and six hundred (600) kg per year, i.e. around twenty (20) thousand ounces of gold per year, for an annual turnover estimated at 60 million dollars, i.e. around 30 billion euros.

Over a period of twenty (20) years, the Colomine site could produce around four (400) thousand ounces of gold, comparable to other large-scale industrial mining projects in Africa. We can also mention the BIBEMI gold project piloted by the British company ORIOLES, which plans to produce three hundred (300) thousand ounces of gold, expandable to eight hundred thousand (800) ounces in ten (10) years.

A NEW VISION OF SEMI-MECHANISED MINING: Since the advent of Law 2023/014 on the Mining Code, the dynamics of mining policy in the semi-mechanised artisanal mining sector have contributed to better structuring and organisation of the sector, while drastically eradicating the bad practices that were used in the past, causing harmful consequences for our environment.

These practices are now subject to innovation, both in terms of legislation, with the implementation of the new Mining Code and its implementing regulations, and in terms of technology. Semi-mechanised artisanal mining licences are now granted to legal entities incorporated under Cameroonian law in which nationals hold at least 51% of the shares. In addition, a deposit of CFAF 3,000,000/hectare is required to restore the sites to their original state, and this will only be released if the operator concerned completely rehabilitates the site. This last measure is aimed at eradicating the gaping holes left after mining, which are the source of many accidents. In addition, in order to combat the underestimation of production to the detriment of the State's interests, an evaluation of the average grade of each production site will henceforth be carried out with a view to deducting the expected production per site and, if necessary, applying adjustments to rogue operators.

In addition, any application for a semi-mechanised artisanal mining licence must be accompanied, on pain of rejection, by proof of having or being affiliated to the use of a closed gravel mining system. The advantages of this new system are a significant improvement in production yields, maximum protection of the State's interests, faster stockpiling of the State's gold reserves and, above all, a reduction in the accidental discharge of effluent into the environment.

In addition, for more effective monitoring and evaluation of the semi-mechanised sector, the issuing of permits is now accompanied by a set of specifications setting out a number of obligations to which all operators are subject, and which MINMIDT is meticulously responsible for enforcing. In addition to the aforementioned rehabilitation bond, these include social projects to be carried out for the benefit of local populations affected by semi-mechanised artisanal mining activities. In addition, MINMIDT intends to seek support from donors, MINEPAT and even intergovernmental organisations to ensure the rehabilitation of sites abandoned before the law of December 2023. Generally speaking, and with the implementation of the provisions of the new law in force, technological innovation is the means set in motion to bring about a clear improvement in Cameroon's mining sector.

A WELL-DEFINED POLICY FOR THE INDUSTRIAL MINING SECTOR THROUGH VALUE CHAIN DEVELOPMENT: In total, Cameroon's mining sector portfolio is made up of sixteen (16) mature projects spread over six (06) Regions, including the five mining projects in progress mentioned above, with two of them due to start production in 2025, namely: the Bipindi Grand-Zambi iron ore mining project and the Colomine small-scale gold mining project. 

In addition to these five projects, the portfolio includes three short-term projects (scheduled to start up in two years' time): the Mborguéné small-scale gold mining project run by CAMINCO S. A, the Ngovayang iron ore mining project run by CAMINA S.A and the Nkout iron ore mining project run by CAMINEX S.A. A, the Ngovayang iron ore mining project run by CAMINA S.A and the Nkout iron ore mining project run by CAMINEX S.A; six medium-term projects (scheduled to start up in more than two years), namely: the Ntem iron ore mining project run by CAMINEX S. A, the Bibemi gold mining project led by ORIOLE RESOURCES PLC, the Akonolinga rutile mining project, the Nkamouna-Lomié cobalt-nickel-manganese mining project, the Figuil limestone mining project developed by MIRA and the Mintom limestone mining project; and finally, in the long term (start-up expected in more than four years), the Mayo-Binka iron ore mining project led by G-STONES RESOURCES S. A.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3471 of Thursday June 12, 2025