We can stop guessing!
An update on the 70km rail extension, published yesterday on EcoMatin.

Mbalam-Nabeba Railway: Cameroon and Congo extend the length of the railway by 70KM

It goes from 540 KM to 610 KM and will now leave from Nabeba in Congo to the port of Kribi via the locality of Mbalam. This resolution and many others were decided upon during follow-up work on the implementation of this project in Congo last week.

Cindy MBALA Last updated: June 12, 2023

The follow-up work on the implementation of the Mbalam (East Cameroon) – Nabeba (Congo) iron mining project, which took place in Ouesso in Congo from June 6 to 8, 2023, under the leadership of Congolese and Cameroonian ministers of Mines and Industry respectively Pierre Oba and Pr Fuh Calistus Gentry returned their copy. Several resolutions are to be remembered on the deployment of this project which is of a strategic nature for the two countries of the sub-region. Thus said, it was stopped a modification of the name of the railway but also of its linear.

From now on we will talk about the Nabéba-Mbalam-Kribi railway, with a length of 610 KM.

The latter has experienced an addition of 70 KM, because before, it was 540 KM and was deployed only on the Cameroonian side (Mbalam-Port of Kribi).

This with the aim of "giving the project an inclusive and integrative character" , can we read in the columns of the Cameroon Tribune newspaper of June 9th.Nothing to report if the operator to be responsible for the construction of the project, it will always be Bestway Finance Ltd

Read also: Mbalam-Nabeba railway: start of works announced for August 2023

Secondly, the two parties have agreed on a common enrichment of the ores at a standard rate of 70%. This arises from the fact that in some places the iron content is 62% and 70% in others. It will therefore be a question of raising the iron content to make it attractive and profitable for a better discussion of the price on an international scale and to build a unique mine.

In addition, it is announced the construction of a steel industry around Mbalam. “To this end, incentive measures will be put in place by the two countries to facilitate the implementation of this initiative. The products from this industry can thus be sold in neighboring countries, in particular Chad, **on and the Central African Republic,” the newspaper reads.

Read also: Mbalam-Nabéba iron ore: Avima Iron warns Cameroon against AustSino and Bestway Finance

The two parties agreed to meet in August in Sangmélima in southern Cameroon on the sidelines of the laying of the stone for the railway. But even more, “it was decided to continue discussions in order to reach a geological and mining framework agreement between the two States; to examine the technical, administrative, social and economic content to be the subject of specific bilateral agreements; to follow the technical situation of Bestway for the effective start of the works of the project in its various components. It is also a question of harmonizing the legislation of the two countries, in order to require mining operators to put in place specifications that should frame the various concerns related to the exploitation of cross-border deposits, etc.

Read also: Cameroon: Paul Biya announces the start of three major mining projects from 2023

These works thus come to give a boost to this mining project, of which the President of the Cameroonian Republic announced during his address to the nation on December 31, 2022, the start during this year 2023. What to envisage better days for this project which would boost the extractive sector of the two countries.

It should be recalled that the objective of this work was to evaluate the mining project, specifically the evaluation of the implementation of the binding agreements.


Source:
https://ecomatin-net.translate.goog/fer-de-mbalam-nabeba-le-cameroun-et-le-congo-rallongent-le-lineaire-du-chemin-de-fer-de-70km/?_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc