Cameroon has identified nearly 200 companies illegally operating in artisanal and semi-mechanized gold mining, mainly in the East and Adamawa regions. Over 95% of these mining companies are foreign-owned. This assessment was made by Fuh Calistus Gentry, interim Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, following a field inspection.
In an official statement released on May 13, 2026, Minister Gentry ordered these illegal operators to cease their activities immediately. He called on operators without valid mining titles or who have not met their legal obligations to stop mining operations and dismantle all their gold gravel processing units and related facilities. The Minister warned that, should they fail to comply with this instruction, the competent administrative services, supported by law enforcement, would dismantle the facilities at the expense of the offenders, without prejudice to legal proceedings.
This action is part of a comprehensive strategy by the Cameroonian government to clean up gold mining in the country. In January 2026, the Minister had already given operators a deadline to pay the site remediation deposit and sign the terms of reference. In February, he announced the withdrawal of operating permits from operators who had not complied with the administrative and environmental requirements of the Mining Code of December 2023.
These measures are driven by significant discrepancies between official gold exports from Cameroon and import figures reported by other countries. The EITI 2023 report reveals that Cameroon officially exported only 22.3 kg of gold in 2023, while the United Arab Emirates reported importing 15.2 tonnes of gold from Cameroon during the same period.
The government's campaign aims to establish transparency on the quantities of gold produced and to control distribution channels in order to capture the corresponding revenue. This initiative is part of a broader trend in Africa, where governments are strengthening their control over strategic mineral resources and seeking to increase economic returns from mining industries dominated by foreign operators. According to researcher Aicha Pemboura, corruption and the influence of elites limit the enforcement of the new mining code of 2023.
