A decision by the Cameroon government to ban industrial and semi-mechanised mining in the Kambele site in Batouri, Kadey Division of the East Region, reserving the area for local artisanal mining has been met with joy. Local miners see it as a chance to protect their livelihoods and keep the Region’s wealth.
The interim Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, Prof Fuh Calistus Gentry, on Wednesday, August 13, signed a decision establishing a protection and exclusion zone from research, industrial exploitation and semi-mechanised artisanal exploitation for the benefit of local artisans.
In the Ministerial Order, Prof Fuh Calistus said “only artisanal gold mining activities carried out exclusively by artisans living near the Kambele mining site remain authorized, in accordance with high instructions from the President of the Republic”.
Gold mining’s impact on local economies includes job creation, infrastructure development, and tax revenue. According to the Interim Minister of Mines, the decision to restore the gold mines to the locals was partly informed by lack of financial and technical capacity by local artisanal miners to develop semi-mechanised artisanal mining activities under the conditions set by the regulation in force.
It also seeks to apply the national framework for protected and exclusion zones.
“Only artisanal mining activities in the strict sense by indigenous people of the locality are authorised within the perimeter,” Minister Fuh Calistus stated. He called on local administrative and municipal authorities of the area to ensure its strict implementation.
Local miners who felt threatened by expatriates and large companies exploiting the area say the decision is a sigh of relief as it is what they had been longing for.
“We wanted Kambele to be the property of locals and this is exactly what the Minister has offered us,” one of the local miners told state broadcaster, the Cameroon Radio Television (CRTV). “Kambele is now the property of the local population and we are happy,” he added.
According to the Minister’s decision, the measure is intended to ensure that local populations benefit directly from mining activities in their area. The order provides that the technical and financial organisation of local miners will be defined in a separate legal text to be issued.
While waiting for the text, authorities say following the Minister’s decision, measures are already being taken to ensure local artisanal miners organise themselves.
The Mayor of Batouri, Auberlin Mbelessa said they are taking steps to organize local miners given that all non-authorized mining activities in the Kambele site are to cease immediately in accordance with the provisions of the new order.
Now happy with the reopening of the Kambele mining site, locals say they can continue to count on the support of public authorities to improve their livelihood.
First published in NewsWatch newspaper No 216 of Monday, August 18, 2025.
