Cameroon: Revamping the Economy - Mining, Industrial Emergency Plan Afoot
"....Authorities of the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Technological Development launch reflection on new takeoff.
All hands are already on deck at the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Technological Development following the firm instructions of the Head of State to review action programmes and produce palpable results within the next six months.
The various departments, particularly those directly concerned with the instructions (Industries, Mines and Standardisation) are busy reflecting on the new measures to take in order to hasten the execution of the road map announced at the beginning of the year. The mining sector, it should be underscored is one of the areas that have during the past few years attracted the attention of multinationals. New discoveries are being made, negotiations and feasibility studies launched but the results remain surprisingly timid. The reasons for this laxity stretch from laziness on the part of actors in the sector, notably the administration to intricacies in the implementation of the law regulating the sector.
These are obstacles that have not left the Head of State indifferent. "Quite recently, I said that we should not surrender in the face of difficulties and that we should rather strive further to overcome the crisis. Besides, the early signs that the global economy is picking up are beginning to show. We should be ready to seize the ensuing opportunities", President Paul Biya said during the last Council of Ministers Meeting. This statement forms the underlining principle with which authorities of the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Technological Development are working.
Six months, one could imagine, may sound so short a time to produce the results prescribed by the Head of State, especially for major projects in the mining and industrial sectors. However, one needs to understand that these projects have been on course for years and that deadlines for some have come and passed. They are not new projects. So, what the Head of State certainly meant was that they should be drawn to their logical conclusion having rested in the drawers beyond expected time.
"Our major industrial and mining projects have stagnated. Credits have definitely become scarce. However, would we be in this situation if we had been more responsive prior to the crisis? These issues must be revisited with a greater determination to succeed", he decried. In very clear terms, the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Technological Development must sit up, reactivate projects that seem to have gone into limbo and search for ways of getting them financed. So far, only one major mineral exploitation licence have been issued to the Cameroon branch of the American company, GEOVIC for the mining of cobalt-Nickel in the Nkamouna locality in the eastern region of the country, Cameroon branch of the American company, GEOVIC for the mining of cobalt-Nickel in the Nkamouna locality in the eastern region of the country. With the instructions from the Head of State, it is hoped that many more licences will be issued out to ensure that the wealth Cameroon has underneath do not remain fallow while we keep beating our chest we have potentials. Like one diplomat stated recently, potentials do not develop a country....."
Although not specific to SDL - I find it reassuring to know that the government is keen to get things moving.
Luck to all.
SDL Price at posting:
14.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
