The National Mining Company (Sonamines) is significantly increasing its oversight of gold operators throughout Cameroon. Following a comprehensive inspection tour across the Adamaoua and Est regions, key hubs for artisanal and semi-mechanized gold production, Director General Serge Hervé Boyogueno presented a candid assessment. His findings reveal that numerous operators are failing to meet expected production levels, some are financially insolvent, while widespread environmental neglect and opaque commercial networks undermine the state’s authority over the sector.
Field inspections uncover vulnerabilities in Cameroon’s gold sector
The visited regions represent the core of Cameroon’s gold mining activities, primarily driven by semi-mechanized companies and a multitude of individual artisans. The mission, initiated by Sonamines, aimed to verify that permit holders were adhering to their contractual and regulatory obligations. The Director General’s observations highlight a persistent gap between the commitments made when titles were granted and the actual productivity witnessed at the sites.
A significant number of operators are not achieving the production thresholds stipulated in their terms of reference. This underperformance is compounded, for some, by documented insolvency concerning the state and its various agencies. On this matter, the head of Sonamines explicitly defers the decision to the Ministry of Mines, which holds the sole authority to suspend or revoke permits. Sonamines thus functions as the technical body for assessment, entrusting the political oversight with the responsibility for imposing sanctions.
Financial non-compliance, environmental concerns, and illicit trade: a multi-faceted challenge
Beyond strictly financial concerns, the inspection documented alarming environmental deficiencies. The restoration of exploited sites, the management of wastewater contaminated with mercury or cyanide, and the security of extraction zones all represent critical ongoing challenges. These failures expose local communities to significant health risks and jeopardize the long-term sustainability of an industry increasingly vital to the local economies of Est and Adamaoua.
Another major challenge involves commercialization. A substantial portion of the extracted gold bypasses official channels, feeding regional smuggling networks. This deprives the public treasury of essential revenue and prevents the traceability of the precious metal. This pervasive opacity, long criticized by specialized organizations, directly contradicts Yaoundé’s stated objective of mineral sovereignty. Sonamines now intends to reinforce its control by strengthening reporting obligations and expanding the network of approved collection points.
Building a national strategic gold reserve
The most ambitious structural objective championed by the Director General remains the establishment of a national strategic gold reserve. This goal, inspired by practices adopted by several African central banks, aims to provide Cameroon with a metallic reserve capable of backing part of its monetary policy and serving as a buffer against external economic shocks. This strategy aligns with the aspirations of other producing nations in the sub-region, eager to capture more value from their own natural resources.
However, the success of this strategy hinges on Sonamines’ ability to channel a significant fraction of national production through its official outlets. This requires a preliminary cleanup of the operator landscape, offering competitive purchase prices compared to informal buyers, and close coordination with security forces and customs authorities along border corridors. The forthcoming decisions from the Ministry of Mines regarding the fate of defaulting operators will be crucial in this regard.
The implementation phase of Cameroon’s mining reform promises to be complex. It creates tension between the imperative of contractual discipline, the preservation of a sector that provides informal employment, and the ambition to integrate gold into a framework of financial sovereignty. While the precise timeline for ministerial decisions has not been released, the conclusions of Sonamines’ mission are expected to inform upcoming directives. The Director General plans to extend these controls to other production basins.
