Gabon Revokes 52 Mining Licences Following Industry Audit

Gabon has cancelled 52 mining titles after a government audit identified regulatory violations, with several gold permits among those revoked. The decision could open the affected concessions to new operators and give state-owned Société équatoriale des mines (SEM) a greater role in the country’s gold sector.

The Ministry of Mines completed its review on October 16, following an audit launched in late June. The review came after the government suspended small-scale gold mining in June, when authorities dismantled an illegal mining network in Ngounié province. Officials have since said the revoked titles will return to the public domain.

However, the affected concessions cannot necessarily be reassigned immediately. Under Gabon’s 2019 Mining Code, operators have 60 days after receiving notification to appeal a revocation, and an appeal suspends its enforcement. The law also requires a waiting period of more than three months after the return of previously discovered or exploited deposits is published in the Official Gazette before new licences can be issued.

Mining Licence Revocations Could Expand SEM’s Role

Once the administrative and legal procedures are complete, the government could grant the concessions to private investors or develop them through SEM. A 2023 decree gives the state-owned company a right of first refusal over areas affected by licence revocations and permits it to form partnerships with other operators.

SEM has been expanding its footprint in the industry. In September, it announced three mining agreements and secured additional licences, including the Mboumba permit. Authorities lifted the company’s own suspension on September 7 after an audit, allowing it to resume operations.

Gabon Targets Unreported Gold Production

The licence cancellations form part of a wider effort to bring gold production and trading under closer government oversight. The restrictions apply not only to unauthorised artisanal miners but also to companies holding valid permits that may have conducted mining activities without meeting their tax obligations.

Mines Minister Sosthène Nguema Nguema criticised this practice in an interview with local publication Les Échos de l'Éco. He said some companies had surrendered exploration permits while claiming they had found no deposits, despite having already extracted gold.

“Some surrendered their exploration permits, claiming they had found nothing, when in reality they had already carried out mining operations,” he said.

The scale of unreported production remains difficult to establish. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative recorded official gold production of 425 kilograms in 2023, while Swiss organisation SWISSAID estimated that informal production reached between one and two tonnes annually in 2024.

The financial cost could also be substantial. Gabonese authorities cited an estimate from the National Parks Agency that illegal gold trading costs the country nearly 75 billion CFA francs, or approximately $127 million, each year. The agency has not disclosed the methodology used to calculate the figure.

Gabon Plans to Route Domestic Gold Through National Refinery

Gabon already has a Gabonese Gold Collection Centre and a national refinery with a stated annual processing capacity of seven to 10 tonnes. The government plans to channel domestically produced gold through the refinery and limit sales to authorised trading centres under a proposed new Mining Code.

With gold trading at around $4,000 an ounce, the government has a strong financial incentive to bring more production into the formal market. The immediate question is how much of the gold currently traded outside official channels can be captured by the state’s collection and refining system.