200 illegal gold mines uncovered

Cameroon is intensifying efforts to clean up its gold mining sector after authorities identified nearly 200 illegal mining companies operating across the country’s East and Adamawa regions, with more than 95% of them reportedly foreign-owned, reports Business Insider Africa. In a press release, Acting Minister of Mines, Industry & Technological Development Fuh Calistus Gentry, said the operation forms part of a broader reform and restructuring campaign targeting illegal semi-mechanised artisanal gold mining activities. The Ministry ordered operators without valid licences, or those violating mining regulations, to immediately halt activities and dismantle gold-bearing gravel processing units and related facilities. Authorities warned that non-compliant sites could be demolished at the operators’ expense, with possible legal proceedings to follow. The government’s intervention comes amid growing concern over illegal mining activity in mineral-rich regions of Cameroon, where informal and semi-mechanised gold operations have expanded rapidly in recent years as global gold prices climbed. Cameroon’s gold sector is a key source of livelihoods in the eastern and Adamawa regions, where artisanal and semi-mechanised mining dominates. However, the industry has long suffered from weak oversight and limited traceability.