(Business in Cameroon) - Cameroon’s mining company Sonamines has collected 175 kg of gold for a total value of CFA3.2 billion since the beginning of the year, Minister Gabriel Dodo Ndoké reported.

According to him, these figures "indicate an increase in the contribution of the mining sector to state revenue. Mining revenues remain weak in the country. Officially, they represent less than 1% of the GDP, due to poor financing and the lack of reliable partners to exploit the major deposits of iron, diamonds, bauxite, and cobalt in the country. Another reason is that nearly 90% of the production of minerals such as gold is sold through informal channels, according to official data.

To remedy this situation, Sonamines is working on a strategy to better channel and market gold and diamonds. As a reminder, the marketing of gold and diamond from Cameroonian mines was handled by CAPAM, whose assets were taken over by the new entity created in December 2020 under the law.

With its commitment to get gold out of informal marketing channels, Sonamines claimed it has, for example, collected 43.46 kg of gold from artisanal miners between July 17 and November 30, 2021. This is 93% higher than the volume collected over the same period in 2020 and 138.9% higher than that in 2019.

BRM