Cameroon’s National Mining Corporation, Sonamines, has opened the door to direct negotiations with investors for the Lomié-Nkamouna cobalt, nickel and manganese deposit and the Akonolinga rutile block after international searches for partners failed to produce a qualifying candidate.
In two notices dated August 18, 2026, the state-owned company said no applicant met the selection criteria for either project. Sonamines is now seeking investors with the technical expertise and financial capacity required to advance the two long-stalled mining assets.
The failed tenders were not due to a lack of interest. According to sources within Sonamines, six companies or consortiums from countries including the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and China expressed interest. The six interested parties reportedly comprised three consortiums and three individual companies, with several targeting both projects. Sonamines, however, has not disclosed how many applications were formally received or evaluated. A Chinese application was also reportedly submitted after the deadline, although it is unclear whether it is included in the count of six candidates.
Candidates Failed to Meet Administrative and Technical Requirements
According to the same sources, several applicants submitted incomplete administrative files or unsigned documents. Others failed to provide sufficient evidence of their technical and financial capacity or ESG track record. Some proposals also did not align with Sonamines’ preferred partnership model.
Those reasons are consistent with the requirements set out in the two calls for expressions of interest. An incomplete administrative file was grounds for automatic disqualification. Candidates were also required to score at least 70 points out of 100, including 35 points for technical experience, 30 for financial capacity, 22 for the technical proposal and partnership structure, and 10 for ESG credentials. The process also required at least 15 years of experience in the mining sector and a track record of operations in Africa.
The shift to direct negotiations will allow Sonamines to discuss the technical, financial and ownership structure of each project directly with prospective investors. It does not, however, mean that financing has been secured. The August 18 notices provide no timetable, proposed ownership structure or amount of funding expected from either the partner or the state.
Nkamouna Still Faces Legal Dispute With Geovic
At Lomié-Nkamouna, any future investor will have to contend with a project that has been stalled for more than 20 years and with a legal dispute over the mining permit. Mining permit No. 33 was granted in April 2003 to Geovic Cameroon, a subsidiary of North American company Geovic Mining Corporation. Because the project was not brought into production, the permit was withdrawn by Presidential Decree No. 2025/040 of February 12, 2025, and the area was subsequently reassigned to Sonamines.
Geovic Cameroon, however, disputes the legality of the decision. In a notice of dispute dated January 16, 2026, the company said the permit and mining convention remain valid.
“The mining permit and convention remain valid, legally binding and in full force and effect,” said the document signed by Chris Serin, who identifies himself as president of Geocam.
That is Geovic’s legal position, not a court ruling confirming that its rights remain valid.
The project would also require substantial investment. The latest available studies put Nkamouna’s measured and indicated resources at about 121 million tons, with average grades of 0.23% cobalt, 0.65% nickel and 1.35% manganese. But the roughly CFAF300 billion investment figure frequently cited for the project comes from the 2011 feasibility study, which put initial investment at $617 million. That figure is now dated, which is why updating the feasibility study and environmental assessment was among the tasks assigned to the future partner.
Akonolinga Must Overcome the Economics That Led Eramet to Withdraw
At Akonolinga, the obstacle is primarily economic. French mining group Eramet, which obtained exploration permits in 2019, withdrew in October 2023 after four years of exploration.
“The feasibility studies showed that the economic fundamentals were not sufficient to support a responsible and profitable industrial project,” the group said.
Eramet cited, among other factors, the deposit’s low grade, the limited thickness of the mineable layer and water-management and ultrafine-particle handling costs, which it said posed excessive risks to local ecosystems and surrounding communities.
Loïse Tamalgo, then managing director of Eramet Cameroon, summarized the project economics this way: “No investor is prepared to inject 180 million euros into a project to earn only 30 million euros over five or six years.”
The amounts correspond to about CFAF118 billion and CFAF19.7 billion, respectively. The terms of reference published by Sonamines in 2026 estimated resources in the Akonolinga area at more than 500,000 tons of rutile and at about 2.85 million tons across a broader area that also includes Nanga-Eboko and Haut-Mfoumou, with an estimated average grade of 1.05%. The state-owned company presents the wider area as the world’s second-largest rutile resource after Sierra Leone.
Those figures, however, are based on a compilation of historical and more recent exploration data. Sonamines itself acknowledges that exploration must be completed and the technical data updated before any mining operation can begin.
The failure of both tenders therefore does not indicate a lack of investor interest in the two assets. Rather, it reflects the difficulty interested investors had in meeting Sonamines’ administrative, technical and financial requirements. Direct negotiations would give the state-owned company more flexibility in selecting partners. They will not, however, by themselves resolve the dispute surrounding Nkamouna or overcome the economic and environmental constraints that prompted Eramet to withdraw from Akonolinga.
Brice R. Mbodiam & Amina Malloum
