Toeing Transparency Exigencies

Talk mining now and minds will no longer run to the East and Adamawa Regions where the whole bulk of the country’s mining resources are concentrated but straight to the computer. In effect, as from July 01 this year, all information concerning mining will be stored in a computerized register and can be consulted at any moment. This is a big innovation by the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development. The aim here is to ensure transparency in the mining sector, a factor that is so dear to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) for which Cameroon is party to its principles. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative was born from the observation that revenue from oil, gas and minerals in many natural resources-rich countries benefited a small group of people to the detriment of the masses. It is a coalition of governments, extractive companies, investors and civil society group, promoting transparency and good governance in the extractive sector. It ensures significant revenue contribution from this sector to growth, poverty reduction and improvement of living conditions of the population.
Vision 2035 as well as the Growth and Employment Strategy Paper (GESP) both confirm the mining sector as a pillar of the economy and national priority. This is certainly not an assertion. Cameroon, Central Africa’s biggest economy, is endowed with significant geological and mineral potential including: crude oil, natural gas, bauxite, aluminium, iron ore, as well as diamond, gold, marble, granite, sapphire, quartz and construction materials. These resources can best be developed in collaboration with the private sector. And for this to happen and succeed, necessary measures ...