Cameroon Repositions Nkamouna-Lomié as a Strategic Battery Metals Asset

From Dormant License to Strategic Re-Launch

Cameroon has formally revived one of its most symbolically significant mining projects: the polymetallic deposit of Nkamouna-Lomié, located in the country’s eastern region. After more than two decades marked by delays, legal disputes, and repeated execution failures, the State has moved to reset the project under a renewed governance and partnership model.

In February 2025, a presidential decree withdrew Mining Permit No. 33 from Geovic Cameroon, which had controlled the license since 2003 without achieving industrial production. The decision closed a prolonged cycle of stalled development and unmet investment commitments. The withdrawal was not purely administrative, but strategic: it reflected growing State frustration with speculative or under-capitalised license holders unable to deliver tangible output.

On 10 January 2026, the National Mining Corporation (Sonamines) launched an international call for expressions of interest aimed at identifying new technical and financial partners capable of bringing the project into production. The objective is no longer simply to allocate a resource license, but to industrialise the deposit within a controlled, credible, and internationally compliant framework.

This repositioning reflects a broader shift in Yaoundé’s mining policy: from passive allocation of mineral rights toward active stewardship of strategic resources.

A Controlled Partner Selection Strategy

The relaunch is deliberately designed to screen out weak or speculative actors. Sonamines’ eligibility requirements emphasise execution capacity, financial depth, and operational credibility. Interested parties must demonstrate at least 15 years of mining operations experience, proven capacity to deliver large-scale industrial projects, and an established footprint in Africa.

This approach aims to correct earlier failures in which licensing preceded capability. The State is now attempting to reverse that sequence by selecting credible execution partners before formal allocation and development commitments.

The 31 March 2026 deadline signals both urgency and discipline. Cameroon is seeking to demonstrate that this is not another announcement cycle, but a structured investment process tied to enforceable timelines, updated feasibility work, environmental compliance expectations, and financing closure.

In this sense, Nkamouna-Lomié is being positioned as a test case for Cameroon’s evolving mining governance model.

Nkamouna-Lomié and the Strategic Metals Shift

Renewed interest in Nkamouna-Lomié is directly linked to structural shifts in global industrial demand. Cobalt, nickel, and manganese have moved beyond niche commodity status and are increasingly central to the energy transition, electric mobility, and strategic manufacturing supply chains.

While battery chemistries continue to evolve, these metals remain core inputs for most industrial-scale energy storage systems. Manganese, in particular, is gaining relevance as manufacturers seek alternatives that reduce reliance on more expensive or geopolitically sensitive materials.

Nkamouna-Lomié is estimated to contain over 120 million tonnes of resources, with commercially significant grades of cobalt, nickel, and manganese. While it is not among the highest-grade deposits globally, it is viewed as strategically attractive due to its geographic position and its potential role in diversifying supply chains away from highly concentrated sources.

For Cameroon, this reframes the project not simply as a mining opportunity, but as a potential entry point into strategic materials diplomacy.

The Execution Gap: Infrastructure, Capital, and Credibility

The central challenge remains execution. Historically, the project has stalled not because of geology, but due to infrastructure deficits, financing constraints, and governance uncertainty.

Laterite processing is capital-intensive and technically complex. Reliable power supply, transport corridors, and processing facilities all require major upfront investment. Previous cost estimates placed initial capital requirements above USD 600 million, a scale incompatible with undercapitalised or speculative developers.

The new framework implicitly acknowledges this reality by prioritising financial robustness, not simply technical interest.

Beyond capital requirements, success will depend on regulatory stability, fiscal predictability, environmental safeguards, and local legitimacy. Mining operations in remote regions are increasingly judged not only by output, but by their social and ecological footprint. Without these elements, even well-financed projects can face sustained operational and political friction.

A Governance Signal More Than a Mining Project

Nkamouna-Lomié is now more than a mining file. It has become a signal of how Cameroon intends to manage strategic assets in a more competitive and geopolitically sensitive environment.

The State appears to be repositioning itself not merely as a resource owner, but as a strategic coordinator balancing investment needs, sovereignty considerations, and long-term value capture.

Whether this transition succeeds depends less on the deposit’s geology than on institutional discipline. If Cameroon can select a credible partner, enforce delivery timelines, and stabilise regulatory conditions, Nkamouna-Lomié could become a reference case for responsible strategic mining in Central Africa.

If the project stalls again, it will reinforce investor scepticism—less about resource availability, and more about execution capacity.

Strategic Outlook and Consequences

Cameroon’s relaunch of Nkamouna-Lomié is not a neutral industrial decision. It carries structural economic, political, and geopolitical consequences that extend well beyond the mining sector.

If the project succeeds, it will materially strengthen Cameroon’s position in the global critical minerals landscape. The country would shift from a marginal supplier to a recognised node in the battery and energy-transition value chain. This would increase Cameroon’s relevance to industrial powers seeking supply diversification, reduce dependence on traditional commodity exports, and strengthen leverage in trade, investment, and diplomatic engagement.

Domestically, successful delivery would reinforce the credibility of the State as an economic coordinator rather than a passive rent collector. It would signal to investors that Cameroon can move from licensing to delivery, from announcements to production. This could unlock wider investment not only in mining, but also in infrastructure, logistics, and industrial processing—with spillover effects across the eastern region and beyond.

Conversely, failure would deepen scepticism. Another stalled cycle would waste a strategic asset and reinforce the perception that institutional risk—rather than geological risk—remains the primary barrier to investment. This would raise the cost of capital for future projects, reduce investor appetite, and weaken Cameroon’s ability to negotiate from a position of credibility.

At the geopolitical level, the outcome will shape how Cameroon is perceived within the intensifying competition for critical minerals. A successful project would integrate Cameroon into strategic supply chain planning. A failed one would marginalise it in favour of countries better positioned to deliver production at scale.

Nkamouna-Lomié is therefore not only about mining revenues.
It is about whether Cameroon can convert resource potential into strategic power, economic leverage, and institutional credibility—or whether it remains trapped in a cycle of unrealised potential.

The project’s consequences will ultimately be measured less in tonnes extracted than in trust gained or lost.
And that will shape Cameroon’s economic trajectory far beyond this single deposit.