Cameroonian authorities on Saturday said they have banned mining operations of three Chinese companies for non-compliant with contractual terms. The Country’s Ministry of Industry, Mines and Technological Development stated this during a chat with journalists. The Ministry listed the companies to include Hong Kong, Peace Mining and Lu, and Lang, stressing that they no longer perform gold panning activities in the region of East-Cameroon.
The government also ordered the companies to leave Cameroon with immediate effect.
According to reports, the ban may not be unconnected with claims that the Hong Kong Company did not have documents authorizing it to carry out mining activities in the country.
Meanwhile, for the Peace Mining and Lu and Lang companies, their departure is linked to a series of conflicts recorded between their employees and local populations which have resulted in deaths, in addition to the non-respect of the environment.
These companies reportedly contributed significantly to the degradation of the environment through the diversion of rivers, and obstruction of rivers by mud, which has had a negative impact on agriculture and livestock.
According to some NGOs, the gold exploitation activities in Cameroon of Chinese companies had caused the death of 34 people in 2017.
