EXTRACTIONS PROMISING UNDERGROUND POTENTIAL

Oil, diamonds, iron and now bauxite are likely to spark a small industrial revolution in the country.

Good news for the north: Cameroon Alumina Ltd. (CAL) is about to start exploiting the Ngaoundal and Minim-Martap bauxite deposits, heralding the dawn of a new industrial-mining age. Meanwhile, the oil industry is recovering and several mining concessions, including for the Mobilong diamond deposit in the east, have already been attributed or soon will be, such as for the huge Mbaiam iron deposit further south.

Louis Paul Motaze, the government negotiator in most of the major infrastructure and mining projects, who relies on a pool of experts and specialised advisors, is leading talks with a solid consortium of three partners: Hydromine, the first company holding an exploration permit to mobilise two giants, India’s Hindalco and the Dubai Aluminium Company, which both own a 45% stake in the Hydromine Global Minerai (HGM) joint venture, a 100%-owned CAL subsidiary. In the long term, the talks could evolve if the government expresses the desire to acquire a stake, not only to have more control over the company’s management and direct and indirect exploitation for the local community,but also to maximise its profits from the sale of extracted and processed materials. According to some estimates, Ngaoundal’s alumina exports could account for 30% of Cameroon’s annual foreign currency earnings.

The feasibility study alone could cost up to $100 million (€76.7 million) and take as long as two years. That is a drop in the bucket: exploration in 2009 revealed that potential bauxite deposits range between 560 million and 700 million tonnes, which will take over 60 years to extract and process. The consortium expects to produce 3.5 million tonnes of alumina a year and will build a special thermal power plant to provide electricity for the project, which is under construction and could create up to 6,000 direct and as many indirect jobs, including 2,000 during the exploitation stage.

“Unemployment rates are high in the Ngaoundal and Minim-Martap regions because they have no major industrial or commercial activities,” CAL says in an impact study. “The project will offer the local community direct and indirect job opportunities. Development of related activities such as restaurants, hotels, transport and road construction will result in indirect jobs. CAL plans to open up a professional training centre for the local community in order to develop the skills necessary for direct and indirect jobs as well as for self-employment.”

By François BAMBOU