Cameroon to crack down on gold smuggling routed to the UAE

Cameroon says it will tighten controls on artisanal and small-scale gold mining from January 2026, aiming to curb smuggling that officials say is siphoning off revenues in a sector with significant potential but no operating industrial gold mines.

Mining Minister Fuh Calistus Gentry said the government plans to close certain artisanal and semi mechanised sites that do not have a closed mineral gravel processing system, a requirement authorities believe can reduce leakage and improve traceability at source.

The move follows a recent report by the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which identified a 15 tonne gap between Cameroon’s declared official exports and the volume of gold reported as imported from Cameroon, particularly by the United Arab Emirates.

The EITI report said Cameroon officially exported 22.3 kg of gold in 2023. International trade statistics, however, indicate 15.2 tonnes of gold were imported from Cameroon the same year, with more than 90 percent reportedly imported by the UAE.

Alongside site closures, the government is considering stronger oversight through SONAMINES, the state owned company mandated to purchase locally produced gold, in an effort to channel more production into official buying and export pipelines. 

Authorities also say they want to encourage industrial scale mining, which typically has clearer reporting and more easily monitored export flows.

The UAE, and Dubai in particular, has become a major hub for gold trading, including supply from Africa. 

The article cites the NGO SWISSAID, which, drawing on UN statistics, says the UAE imported 748 tonnes of African gold in 2024, more than half of its total gold imports, with some supply linked to opaque sources.

Gentry also pointed to porous land borders as a driver of the trade, saying gold from neighbouring countries can be smuggled through and exported under Cameroon’s name as the declared origin.

The impact of the measures will depend on enforcement at remote sites and border crossings, and on whether official buying channels can compete with informal traders on pricing and payment speed. 

The article notes that some countries have reported gains from tighter formalisation, citing Burkina Faso’s state buyer SONASP, which collected 29.56 tonnes of artisanal gold in the first nine months of 2025, up from 5.57 tonnes in the same period of 2024.