(Agence Ecofin) – A flagship resource of the mining sector in Gabon, manganese is mainly produced there by the Compagnie Minière de l’Ogooué, a subsidiary of the French Eramet, which ensures nearly 90% of production.
The latest economic note from the Gabonese Ministry of the Economy reveals that in 2023, national manganese production fell by 2.5% year-on-year, without however mentioning the figures. A poor performance for the country which instead expected an increase of 9.5% in production compared to 2022, or 10.9 million tonnes compared to 10 million in 2022.
This drop is justified, among other things, by the negative results of the company Nouvelle Gabon Mining, a subsidiary of the Indian group Coalsale Group, due to the launch of a strike by employees of subcontracting companies who demanded better living conditions. . New Gabon recalls that in October 2023, NGM employees from Franceville and Okondja assigned to subcontracting had observed a strike demanding payment of their bonuses and denouncing mistreatment.
Correspondingly to this decline, manganese exports declined during the period under review. According to data from the Ministry of the Economy, Gabon exported manganese worth 1,113.6 billion FCFA in 2023, compared to 1,152.4 billion FCFA in 2022, a drop of 3.4% between the two periods. .
