Cameroon Not Only African Country With Gold Discrepancies — Mines Minister

By Njodzeka Kernyuy 

In what sounds like a justification to Cameroon’s missing gold, the Minister of Mines, Industries and Technology Development, Fuh Calistus Gentry, has said that discrepancies in gold declarations also occur in other African countries.

“While industrial mining provides full visibility through prior feasibility studies, the artisanal mining sector has historically been affected by deep-rooted abuses driven by operators’ pursuit of quick profits,” Minister Fuh Calistus said.

“This is a global problem. In Africa, the gap between declared production and actual exports has reached alarming proportions: 29 tonnes of gold in Sudan, 18 tonnes in Chad, and as much as 57 tonnes in Mali in 2025.”

He was speaking recently in Yaounde during a joint press conference with his counterpart, the Minister of Communication, René Emmanuel Sadi, aimed at explaining new reforms in the mining industry.

The press conference came at a time when Cameroon is under scrutiny, with public agitations over claims that the country’s gold was being stolen.

According to the EITI, in 2023, Cameroon officially recorded just 22.3 kg of gold exports, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) alone reported importing more than 15 tonnes from Cameroon over the same period — almost 700 times higher.

This disparity, it said, costs the state of Cameroon $300 million (171.9 billion FCFA) in tax revenue.

However, the Mines Minister had earlier defended his Ministry, stating that gold exports were, and are, the responsibility of SONAMINES – a state corporation charged with the exportation of minerals.

Goodwill Costing Cameroon Dearly in Gold Revenue

Following mounting pressure and the suspension of Cameroon from the EITI, the government said it was taking measures to ensure transparency.

Minister Fuh Calistus Gentry said the disparities had continued because taxes on gold were collected at source, meaning the companies doing the gold extraction were declaring their own production figures.

“The problem is that operators take advantage of Cameroon’s self-assessment tax system by declaring figures that are very low and far removed from actual production. Consequently, the amounts collected fall well short of reflecting the true level of production,” he stated.

Even after discovering fraud at mining sites, he said because of hospitality, they couldn’t remove the mining companies like how other African countries have done.

“In Cameroon, mechanisation introduced more than a decade ago by foreign firms increased estimated gross production from 2 tonnes to more than 15 tonnes per year. Yet the share captured by the national economy in the form of public revenue remained negligible. Unlike some countries that chose, at times with the involvement of the armed forces, to remove these operators from their territory, Cameroon, true to its tradition of hospitality, opted to regulate the activity by structuring semi-mechanised artisanal mining, with the primary objective of enabling Cameroonian nationals to access this wealth,” he said.

Reforms Not Helping Much

Last month, the Minister conducted an evaluation in the East region, where most mining sites are located, and closed about 200 artisanal companies that were not abiding by sector regulations.

However, the declaration-at-source system remains in place, meaning honesty could still be an issue.

Fuh Calistus said a rigorous calculation method, based on a scientifically established minimum production level and a collection system operating directly at the source, will be put in place.

“The minimum production threshold will therefore become the entry requirement for the semi-mechanised sector. Because duties and taxes are collected at source rather than at exit points, if declarations are accurate and the corresponding duties and taxes are properly calculated, there will be no discrepancy, given that 90% of gold is produced through semi-mechanised operations, as I mentioned earlier,” he stated.

Apart from that, he suggested that a much more rigorous collection system must be established, taking into account every stage of gold extraction, both physical and chemical.

In addition, the General Directorates of Customs and Taxation, which have acknowledged this weakness, must become more actively involved so that collection is more visible and substantial.

Under the current system, 80 percent to 90 percent of the gold produced is not collected, he said.

According to him, SONAMINES too must reconcile its figures with those of the General Directorate of Customs every month.

This way, Cameroon will be able to publish its annual figures on gold production and exports without waiting for the EITI to release them.

From now on, exports should be initiated directly by the two institutions—SONAMINES and the General Directorate of Customs; that way, he said, the discrepancies will be eliminated.