The 2023 Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (ITIE) report exposed a significant gap between the amount of gold declared and the actual volume exported from Cameroon. In response, the government has launched a series of corrective measures. The core issue isn’t the physical loss of Cameroon’s gold, but rather the substantial loss of fiscal and customs revenues that the state should have collected from these exports if they had been legally processed.

This situation highlights a clear equation: illegal gold exports or smuggling directly translate into lost state revenues, as applicable taxes and duties are legally mandated for collection at the source before any exportation.

Amidst these efforts to restructure and sanitize the sector, led by the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development (MINMIDT), the state is initiating comprehensive fiscal and customs recovery operations, both domestically and internationally. The primary objective is to reclaim the outstanding amounts owed to the state by implicated operators for the period spanning 2023 to 2025.

The internal recovery phase, set to commence on August 1st, will be spearheaded by a joint team comprising representatives from SONAMINES, the General Directorate of Taxes (DGI), and the General Directorate of Customs (DGD). This initiative aims to recoup revenue shortfalls resulting from under-declared or entirely undeclared gold production, which led to insufficient or absent tax collection by SONAMINES from companies operating within Cameroon. Two distinct categories of companies have been identified for this purpose.

The first category includes fifty-one (51) companies engaged in physical gold extraction, a traditional method, whose declarations were significantly understated. The second category, recently uncovered by MINMIDT, involves thirty-three (33) sites utilizing newer gold extraction technologies, whose production has never been declared for tax collection. These internal recovery efforts are projected to generate at least 300 billion CFA francs in the short term, effectively compensating for the approximately 165 billion CFA francs in revenue losses reported by the ITIE in 2023.

Concurrently, an external recovery strategy is underway, leveraging intelligence gathered from abroad. In collaboration with the Emirati Government, authorities aim to compile a definitive list of individuals and corporate entities that exported gold from Cameroon between 2023 and 2026. This concerted effort is designed to recover hundreds of billions of CFA francs in outstanding fiscal revenues.

Ultimately, these twin approaches to fiscal and customs recovery – internal and external – will enable the state not only to recuperate past revenues but also to establish a more efficient collection system for the future. This new framework for gold production control involves partnering with an international expert company and implementing direct revenue collection at the source by Tax and Customs Administrations, working in conjunction with SONAMINES. This comprehensive restructuring is expected to eliminate the previously observed discrepancies, ensuring that all gold exporters fulfill their financial obligations to the state before shipment, as explained by MINMIDT’s communication unit, bolstering African governance and continent news on transparency.