Mining in Cameroon
Encyclopedia
Cameroon Overview
CameroonCameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
has a total area of approximately 475 thousand square kilometers, a coastline of some 400 kilometers, and a population approaching 19 million people.
Mining History
As of April 2008, Cameroon has no industrial miningMining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
history. Cameroon’s undeveloped mineral resources include bauxite
Bauxite
Bauxite is an aluminium ore and is the main source of aluminium. This form of rock consists mostly of the minerals gibbsite Al3, boehmite γ-AlO, and diaspore α-AlO, in a mixture with the two iron oxides goethite and hematite, the clay mineral kaolinite, and small amounts of anatase TiO2...
, cobalt
Cobalt
Cobalt is a chemical element with symbol Co and atomic number 27. It is found naturally only in chemically combined form. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal....
, gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
from lode deposits, granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, iron ore, nepheline syenite
Nepheline syenite
Nephelene syenite is a holocrystalline plutonic rock that consists largely of nepheline and alkali feldspar. The rocks are mostly pale colored, grey or pink, and in general appearance they are not unlike granites, but dark green varieties are also known...
, nickel
Nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel belongs to the transition metals and is hard and ductile...
, and rutile
Rutile
Rutile is a mineral composed primarily of titanium dioxide, TiO2.Rutile is the most common natural form of TiO2. Two rarer polymorphs of TiO2 are known:...
. Strong metal and industrial mineral prices since 2003 have encouraged companies to develop mines. The Nkamouna enriched cobalt-nickel-manganese-iron laterite deposits and several other nickeliferous laterite deposits in southeast Cameroon were first discovered and investigated by the United Nations Development Programme
United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations' global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP operates in 177 countries, working with nations on their own solutions to...
(UNDP) during 1981-1986, in a cooperative project with the Cameroon Ministry of Mines, Water and Energy to evaluate mineral potential in southeastern Cameroon. Due to the remote location and the low nickel prices at the time, the discovery did not draw much attention. No further exploration took place on the property until geologist William Buckovic became aware of the nickel discovery in 1988.
The southeast region and nearby regions in Gabon
Gabon
Gabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
, Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo
The Republic of the Congo , sometimes known locally as Congo-Brazzaville, is a state in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.The region was dominated by...
, and Central African Republic
Central African Republic
The Central African Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It borders Chad in the north, Sudan in the north east, South Sudan in the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo in the south, and Cameroon in the west. The CAR covers a land area of about ,...
have few producing mineral deposits and few with near-term production potential. Most of this region is underlain by Proterozoic granite-gneiss-schist terrains. Within the region, ultramafic rocks, the original source of the cobalt and nickel, are confined to the project area. There has been no previous production of minerals from the project area.
Alluvial gold is artisanally exploited from stream gravels in parts of Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, and Central African Republic. However, the U.S. Geological Survey’s 2002 estimate for total gold production from all four countries combined is less than 1,600 kilograms, or less than 50,000 ounces per year. The portion of this yield from within a 300-km radius of the Geovic Project is likely on the order of 20,000 ounces per year, a relatively insignificant amount by international comparisons. In the southwest part of the Central African Republic, alluvial gold is accompanied by small quantities of alluvial diamonds in streams which drain Cretaceous sandstone and conglomerates exposed further east. The Cretaceous formations do not extend into Cameroon.
Bauxite (Aluminum-bearing ore)
As of April 2008, bauxiteBauxite
Bauxite is an aluminium ore and is the main source of aluminium. This form of rock consists mostly of the minerals gibbsite Al3, boehmite γ-AlO, and diaspore α-AlO, in a mixture with the two iron oxides goethite and hematite, the clay mineral kaolinite, and small amounts of anatase TiO2...
is not mined in Cameroon; it is only refined. The raw material is shipped from around the world to a smelter in Edéa
Edéa
Edéa is a city located in the Littoral Province, Cameroon by the Sanaga River and near the railroad line Douala-Yaoundé. It has a population of 122,300 . There are bauxite facilities, aluminium processing facility, steel processing facility, timber facilities, paper facilities and some water...
where a supply of hydro-electric power is available for processing. The refined metal is exported globally.