International community now hunting Cameroon’s mineral

FOUR MAIN COUNTRIES HAVE ALREADY INVESTED IN EXPLOITATION. Get those involve:

The united states of America, President Bush’s country is actively present in the little locality of Nkamouna a few kilometres after Lomie in the East province where it is exploring and exploiting Cobalt and Nickel through its Cameroon branch of GEOVIC, code name Geovic Cameroon (GeoCam). This private company limited took the decision to develop Cobalt-Nickel in Lomie in 1995. An agreement was signed to that effect with government in 2002. As of mid 2007, about 53 million tons of ore containing 0.24per cent of cobalt and 0.7 per cent of Nickel had been collected at the exploitation site. Geologists continued to carry out precision studies on mineral characteristics. The Nkamouna project, proposes to begin construction in 2009 and to start mining shallow cobalt-nickel laterite hosted ore in 2009. It is estimated the 1.631 kilometre-square field would contain one billion tons of ore, one of the field technicians said last year. When exploitation finally starts, about 4,000 ton of cobalt and 3,000 tons of nickel will be exploited per year. Exploitation is estimated to cover a period of over 25 years. The project is expected to yield about 8 billion per year for the state and create at least 300 direct jobs. The Cameroon bauxite potential has equally been of interest to the Americans though things have not been completely formalised to enable them begin exploitation. The Adamawa deposits (Minim Martap and Ngaoundal) surpass one billion tons of reserves. When extrapolated prudently, we can expect about 2 billion tons of reserves. The possibility of its processing is largely based on the valorisation of the energy potential, which exists in the area.

Australia
They are working in joint venture with a Cameroonian private company, CAMIRON to extract iron ore in Mbalam, situated north of Ngoila in the East province. The entire project has been estimated at CFA15billion. The private Cameroonian company, obtained an exploitation permit in September, 2005 to carry out a thorough search of iron ore deposit in the area but Sundance Research Limited, an Australian company acquired 90% of the shares in CAMIRON in 2006 based on its commitment to provide financing and development expertise required to implement the project.
The final feasibility studies will be completed in 2008 while construction begins in 2009. However, work is already going on at the site. The deposit is estimated at 220 million tons. Sundance Resources Limited will build a railway connecting the areas to the seaside town of Kribi covering 400kilometres to facilitate its transportation. The project will provide about 800 direct and indirect jobs.

South Korea
The Koreans want to exploit the gold in Lom and Pangar in Betare-Oya in east Cameroon. The Lom-Pangar Hydro-electric Project will produce a reservoir of 5 million cubic metres of water. This water will completely cover the gold found in the area if nothing is done to extract it. The Koreans through the C & K mining and within the framework of the small scale Mining and Support Program (Cardre d’appui et de promotion de l’artisanant minier-CAPAM), are expected to exploit 13 tons of gold from the area. So far, only 15 kilograms of gold valued at CFA 140 million have been extracted.

Canada
The Canadians are effectively present in Poli in the North province where they have started exploitation. A little deposit of uranium of about 438 ton has already been located in the area. However, it would appear the real uranium is still to be determined. AU’s functioning criticized Dysfunctional structures, misplaced priorities and scanty coffers as obstacles to continental integration.
A panel of 13 eminent African specialists, assigned to evaluate the structures, functioning and management of various organs of the African Union (AU) recently submitted an unflattering report that casts a shadow on the effectiveness of the 50 year old continental union. In the over 270 – page report, examined by heads of state during the AU summit at Addis Ababa from 31 January to 2 February, the panel gives a long list of examples of the inability of the AU to meet its objectives through structural problems, insufficient human and financial resources and serious managerial shortcomings.
According to the panel of specialists from diverse fields, chaired by Adebayo Adedeji, former executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), AU summits spend too much time treating topics that have nothing to do with Africa’s integration. They criticised the absence of clarity in the objectives of the African Commission and other organs of the AU and condemned their poor management practices.
There also seemed to be a lot of wasteful expenditures. As of 2006 alone, the African Commission paid for 5241 trips by airplane. Most decisions of the AU, the panelists pointed out, are never implemented. For instance, the AU has taken 172 decisions in five years and the executive council has adopted 393 resolutions that have, unfortunately, remained paperwork. AU projects, the panel said, are characterised by opacity, which is the converse of transparent management that the union should be striving for. Most African countries were also slammed for not
regularly making their annual contributions to the AU. This has forced the AU to go cap in hand to Western countries to subsidise it. After enumerating many other shortcomings, the panel made 170 recommendations amongst which include; a call for the construction of a new democratic and economic order in which African peoples and not states would be the focus of the AU; the institution of an air ticket tax for the functioning of the AU; and ensuring faster
African integration.
On the other hand the 13 panelists warmed African leaders emphasizing that the choice was now between “progress” and “underdevelopment”. While underscoring the belief that Africans are so
disunited that they cannot solve their problems without outside intervention, the panel urged the
continent’s leaders to prove sceptics wrong by implementing these recommendations rapidly. But the African leaders returned home from Addis Ababa as usual.

Courtesy - Harry Ndienla Yemti