CI-NEWS

Yaounde is world’s mining capital from 2 to 4 September 2019.

2019-06-18

No: 432

Yaounde is world’s mining capital from 2 to 4 September 2019.

Investors rush for Cameroon’s 300 mineral occurrences.

In prelude to the 3rd edition of the Cameroon International Investment Conference on Mining and Exhibition, CIMEC, coming up September 2 to 4, 2019 in Yaounde, the government, through the ministry of mines, industry and technological development (MINMIDT), has organised a press briefing in Yaounde to inform the general public on measures taken to boost the Cameroon’s extractive industry.

The minister of mines during the event that took place Tuesday June 11 affirmed that beyond 40% of land exploited in Cameroon, the country still possesses very rich and diverse mineral potentials. It is against this back drop that the head of state has set up different structures to further enhance these potentials like CAPAM whose mission is to supervise the artisanal mining; PRECASEM whose role is capacity building and improvement of mining cadastre; the Kimberly process that ensures the recovery of the Cameroonian diamond as well as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), Gabriel Dodo Ndoke said.

Tuesday’s conference was also a platform to present the results of the airborne geophysical lifting work, carried out by PRECASEM, for 5years at the cost of approximately 34, 803, 000, 000FCFA with support from the World Bank.

Though the work covered seven regions, including the North West, West, North, Far North, Central, Adamawa and East regions, the results obtained so far concerns five regions given the insecurity problems plaguing the Far North and North West regions, the minister said, adding that the outcome of the work has unveiled several occurrences of several ores such as gold, zinc, nickel, uranium amongst others. “The impressive results obtained have enabled us to identify the geological potential of our country, which until now was only 40% of its surface area,” Gabriel Dodo Ndoke said.

According to the Secretary of State, Fuh Calistus, “since independence, we have never had such opportunity to recover 60% of what was lacking of our national territory. If mining industries have not grown in the country, it is because many have been the speculators who only enrich themselves by using and making their stocks to rise on the stock exchange but do not actually invest in it.”

The country seeks to emulate other flourishing extractive industries in the world in a bid to ameliorating its products, such as the lack of laboratories which has hindered work on the local industries. “We have invited laboratories, draining companies, to understand what this industry is all about, because we are at the verge of making this country take its proper place as the first destination for mining in Africa. We believe this 3rd edition is a defining point for the kick start of our industry,” Fuh Calistus said.

The upcoming event will be observed under the theme, “New mining opportunities in Cameroon: evidence of more than 300 new anomalies and indices presented by the World Bank (PRECASEM) and the ministry of mines, industry and technological development.”

CIMEC 2019 comes at a strategic moment to boost the country’s mining sector which constitutes a great factor in the fight against poverty and enhancing the country’s economic growth.

By Sandra Fomuso

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Yaounde is world’s mining capital from 2 to 4 September 2019.