Government response

Gold smuggling in Cameroon: government launches crackdown on illegal exports

A 2023 report by the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative exposed discrepancies between declared and exported gold from Cameroon, prompting swift government action.

Government responds to gold smuggling revelations

The 2023 report from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative revealed a troubling gap between declared gold reserves and actual exports from Cameroon, triggering immediate government intervention.

The state has identified illegal gold exportation as a direct cause of lost tax and customs revenue that should have been collected before shipments left the country. Rather than losing physical gold assets, Cameroon faces financial repercussions through unpaid levies on undeclared exports.

In response, the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Technological Development (MINMIDT) has launched comprehensive fiscal and customs recovery operations both domestically and internationally. These efforts target unpaid taxes from 2023 to 2025 that were evaded through underreported production and complete failure to declare operations.

The domestic crackdown, set to begin August 1st, will involve a joint task force from SONAMINES, the General Directorate of Taxes (DGI) and Customs (DGD). Their mission focuses on recovering lost revenue from:

Companies that underreported gold extraction volumes
Operations that never filed production declarations

The government has identified two distinct categories of offenders to prioritize in these recovery efforts.

Domestic recovery targets identified offenders

Fifty-one companies that physically extracted gold using traditional methods but filed understated production reports now face scrutiny. Additionally, authorities have uncovered thirty-three previously undeclared sites using modern extraction techniques whose entire production was never reported for tax purposes.

These recovery operations are expected to recoup at least 300 billion FCFA in short order, significantly reducing the 165 billion FCFA revenue gap highlighted in the 2023 ITIE report. The domestic operation represents the first phase of Cameroon’s comprehensive response to illegal gold exportation.

The international component involves collaborating with Emirati authorities to compile a comprehensive list of individuals and entities that exported gold from Cameroon between 2023 and 2026. This effort aims to recover hundreds of billions in outstanding taxes owed to the Cameroonian state.

Together, these domestic and international recovery initiatives will not only address past revenue losses but establish robust systems for future gold production monitoring. The new framework includes international auditing partnerships and direct source collection by tax and customs authorities working alongside SONAMINES.

According to the MINMIDT communications team, these structural reforms will eliminate the discrepancies that have plagued gold exports, ensuring all future shipments comply with tax obligations before leaving Cameroon.

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