Gabon revises mining code to strengthen governance and national resource valuation

This initiative, aligned with President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema's vision, aims to enhance good governance of natural resources, bolster economic sovereignty, and combat illicit activities. The reform seeks to provide Gabon with a legal framework adapted to the evolving mining sector, ensuring its sustainable development. The revision will modernize mining activity oversight, improve control mechanisms, and promote more responsible exploitation.

The minister highlighted challenges such as clandestine gold exploitation, cross-border trafficking, state revenue losses, environmental degradation, and insufficient traceability of national production, which hinder the full exploitation of national potential, particularly in the gold sector. The updated code intends to secure the sector, better organize artisanal and semi-industrial gold mining, and address illegal practices more effectively. Nguema Nguema emphasized the need for a modern, effective, and deterrent legal framework to protect the environment, increase economic and social benefits for local populations, and offer a stable, transparent, and attractive legal environment for serious investors.

The collaborative effort involving various stakeholders is expected to yield reform proposals that balance economic attractiveness, national interests, and transparency requirements, transfor