(Ecofin Agency) - Ceremony for the partial set-up of Lom Pangar’s dam which was initially set for 15 September 2015 could not be held as planned. Nevertheless, technical operations for the project was launched, authorized sources revealed.

Following the event, the public authorities and lenders are holding back from rapidly completing the project, especially with the gold miners, actually present on project site, refusing to vacate the premises as previously instructed by the project team.

Indeed, around 5,357 miners and 31 mining companies are still working on the sites, which are to be filled with more than three billion cubic meters of water during the dam’s partial set-up, said Minister of Mines, Emmanuel Bondé, on 11 September 2015 in Yaoundé.

“We were truly surprised when the miners, but more even when the heads of the associated mining companies refused to leave the sites which, as it should be reminded, were initially granted them in the framework of a gold-recovery initiative launched in 2007”, Minister of Mines said whilst demanding miners to vacate the site at the risk of endangering themselves during the dam’s partial set-up.

Back in 2007, projecting the construction of the Lom Pangar reservoir-dam, Cameroon’s government set up an operation to recover 13 tons of gold which were to be lost during the dam’s filling.

At the time, many artisanal exploitation permits, used today by miners to support their lack of cooperation, had been issued to individuals as well as companies.

The partial filling of Lom Pangar dam will lead to a 80 MW increase in the production capacity of the plants located in Edéa and Songloulou, by regulating flows in these dams. This will subsequently solve low-power production during next year’s low-flow period (January to March), resulting from the dry season.

BRM