Chinese gold,diamond mafia in Cameroon revealed

According to sources at the Regional Delegation of Mines, Industries and Technological Development in Bertoua, about 70% of local mine production there is shipped to Asian countries without going through local control in Cameroon.

Chinese miners who constitute a majority of exploiters in the region have been accused of engaging in trafficking of mines products in the region. They dodge Cameroon gov’t scrutiny by using gas bottles to load the minerals so that mounted control officers have no suspicion of trafficking seeing gas bottles.

“These Chinese miners come around with gas bottles pretending to use them for cooking. But our elements on the ground in an inspection exercise noticed that some of the gas bottles were heavier than a normal weight.” A security official who requested anonymity told The Cameroon Journal.

The French language daily, Le Messager, confirmed the allegation in one of its articles in which officials at the Regional Delegation for Mines in the East Region confirmed that huge amounts of gold were discovered hidden in plastic bags inside gas bottles.

They went further to say the Chinese Miners use empty gas bottles to stock the gold and diamond and then weld the bottles after filling them before transporting.

Cameroonian laborers for the Chinese are said to be accomplices but are said to be quiet about the illegal transactions for fear of straining labor relationship with their Chinese employers. Gold extraction companies and diamonds in the Eastern Region are predominantly Chinese.

Besides trafficking of gold, there are also diamonds from operating sites like Boumba-et-Ngoko.

Flavious Eben Ebot, a Cameroonian interpreter for the Chinese Mines farmers, however, argued that it is very difficult for the Chinese miners to fraudulently export gold and diamond without passing through control because of tight security.

“The Government of Cameroon has delegated CAPAM, (Framework for the support and promotion of mining) to collect 30% of daily production of what the Chinese miners produce.

CAPAM agents are attached to every mining site to check production everyday and by the end of the month they collect 30% as taxes. I work as a Chinese interpreter and know how this is done.” Ebot said.

Even though he did not dismiss possibilities of the Chinese’ alleged fraudulent activities, he lamented that the 30% tax collected by the government is too much. “Just imagine you invest in a business and the government has to collect 30% every month from you as taxes. Our government is over taxing the sector,” he said.

We contacted the Chinese Embassies in Yaoundé and Douala but at press time we were yet to get a respond on behalf of their nationals about this allegation.

According to CAPAM over 140 gold deposits have been identified in Cameroon. Officials of CAPAM, the framework for the support and promotion of mining, revealed that the practice does not follow the normal channel, they disclosed that about 90kg of every 100kg of production goes to traffickers.