Chinese company to run Gabon manganese mine

A Chinese cogypsum powder production line in turkeympany will operate a huge new manganese mine in central Gabon and market the mineral under an agreement signed Thursday in Libreville. Mines Minister Julien Nkoghe Bekale said Huazhou Mining, a subsidiary of China's CITIC group, would invest 40 billion cfa francs (61 million euros, 85 million dollars) in the mine at M'Bembele, 200 kilometres (120 miles) southeast of the capital.

In the first two years it was planned to extract 800,000 to 900,000 tonnes a year, rising to 1,040,000 tonnes thereafter, over some 30 years. Bekale, who signed the accord with Huazhou's vice president Zhang Longzhu, said the site would employ 255 Gabonese and 85 Chinese, and part of the mineral would be processed locally. He said Huazhou's turnover from the mine would amount to some 73 million euros and profits would be 9-12 million euros annually. Manganese is one of Gabon's main resources along with oil and wood. French group Eramet has so far had a monopoly on extracting it and is the world's second-largest producer thanks to its mine in the southeast of the country...