Mines A promising vein

Cameroon expects mining to become one of its major emerging industries. This time, project managers say, after around 10 touch-and-go years, the goal is within reach. “We’re about to start building the mine,” says Roger Bogne, CEO of Cam Iron, the company in charge of mining iron ore in Mbalam. “The prize will be 484 million tons of iron-rich ore to export and 2.32 billion tons that will be enriched at a local plant before being sold abroad. The reserves will last at least 25 years. The project is worth over $4.5 billion, with 2.7 billion tons of world-class mineral resources according to the JORC code*” he says. This is one of the most advanced mining projects, and the government expects substantial gains in taxes, dividends and direct jobs, estimated at around 3,000. The investment contract is due to be signed in late August. The 10-year financing programme includes building the site and a 500km railway connecting the mine to the Kribi deepwater port, where an ore-carrier pier is also planned.

Another major programme involves bauxite mining in northern Cameroon, which has some of the world’s biggest reserves of the ore. The main two sites, whose potential is put at two billion tons, are in Fongo-Tongo, in western Cameroon, and Minim-Martap, on the Adamaoua Plateau,where mining operations are due to start any day now. The alumina refinery under construction in Ngaoundal will be able to process seven million tons of bauxite a year to yield 2.8 million tons of alumina. To achieve that goal Hydromine, the company that originally held the exploration permit, brought together two global giants, India’s Hindalco and the United Arab Emirates’ Dubai Aluminium Company, in equal shares (45%) in a joint-venture called Hydromine Global Mineral (HGM) that owns 100% of Cameroon Alumina (CAL). Hydromine owns the remaining 10%. The two-year feasibility study alone will cost up to $100 million.

DIAMONDS, COBALT AND MORE

After months of exploration, evaluation and negotiation, in January 2011 South Korea’s C&K Mining obtained an operating permit for eastern Cameroon’s Mobilong diamond mine. The company, says the government, has a year to start operations. C&K Mining will finance 80% of the 500-billionFCFA (€762 million) project, the State 20%. Cameroon is expecting good news from other consortiums looking for cobalt, iron and more.

By François BAMBOU