The 2023 ITIE report highlighted a significant discrepancy between the amount of gold officially declared and the actual volume exported from Cameroon. The government has swiftly moved to rectify these deficiencies, recognizing that the primary concern is not the physical loss of Cameroon’s gold, but rather the substantial shortfall in fiscal and customs revenues that the state should have collected from these exports if they had been conducted through legal channels.
This situation underscores a critical equation: illegal gold exportation or smuggling directly translates into lost state revenues. By law, these essential taxes and duties are mandated to be collected at the source before any gold leaves the country.
In response, the government, through the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development (MINMIDT), has initiated extensive restructuring and cleanup operations. These efforts include launching fiscal and customs recovery campaigns, both domestically and internationally. The overarching goal is to reclaim outstanding amounts owed to the state by various operators who evaded payments between 2023 and 2025.
The internal recovery phase, spearheaded by a joint team comprising representatives from SONAMINES, the General Directorate of Taxes (DGI), and the General Directorate of Customs (DGD), is set to commence on August 1st. This initiative aims to recover lost tax revenues resulting from under-declarations and complete failures to declare, which led to insufficient or non-existent tax collection by SONAMINES from companies operating within Cameroon. Two distinct categories of businesses have been identified for these recovery efforts:
The first group consists of fifty-one (51) companies engaged in physical gold extraction, a method previously prevalent, whose declarations were found to be significantly understated. The second category, recently uncovered by MINMIDT officials in the field, involves thirty-three (33) sites utilizing newer gold extraction technologies, whose production has never been declared or subjected to tax collection. These concerted recovery efforts are projected to generate at least 300 billion CFA francs in the short term, effectively offsetting the approximately 165 billion CFA francs in revenue losses highlighted in the 2023 ITIE report.
Concurrently, an external recovery strategy is underway, leveraging information gathered internationally. This initiative involves close collaboration with the Emirati Government to compile a comprehensive list of individuals and corporate entities that exported gold from Cameroon between 2023 and 2026. The aim is to recover hundreds of billions of CFA francs in overdue fiscal revenues.
Ultimately, these dual fiscal and customs recovery avenues – internal and external – are designed not only to recoup past revenue shortfalls but also to establish a robust and efficient collection system for the future. This new framework for controlling gold production will involve engaging an international expert company and implementing direct, at-source tax collection by the Fiscal and Customs Administrations, working in conjunction with SONAMINES. Officials from MINMIDT’s communication unit explain that this comprehensive restructuring will eliminate the previously observed discrepancies, ensuring that all gold exporters comply with payment obligations to the state.
