Gabon Rejects Energy Shortages As Excuse For Missing 2029 Manganese Export Ban Deadline
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Gabon is pushing its mining industry to move beyond raw exports and capture more value domestically, with manganese at the center of that strategy. As the world’s No. 2 manganese producer, the country wants to use a stronger local processing base to support industrial development, jobs, and a better share of the value chain.
That ambition comes as African resource producers increasingly try to keep more wealth at home instead of shipping out unprocessed minerals. For Gabon, the shift is especially important because manganese is a strategic input for steel and EV batteries, so the market outlook is favorable even if the country still faces infrastructure constraints.
Energy reliability remains one of the biggest obstacles, but the government is trying to treat it as a solvable operational issue rather than a reason to delay reform. At Mining Indaba in Cape Town, Minister Sosthene Nguema Nguema said miners have already shown processes that can cut energy use by 40% to 60%, which is why he described energy as a false debate.
That message is meant to reinforce a harder deadline: miners are expected to provide detailed timelines and show real progress toward refining capacity. The 2029 cutoff is being presented as non-negotiable, with the government offering administrative support but leaving implementation responsibility squarely on the companies.
Gabon’s export data shows why the pressure is on. The country shipped 9.4 million tonnes of manganese in 2024, down 5.3% from 2023, which suggests the industry is active but still not moving fast enough toward higher-value processing. In that context, refining is not just a policy preference but a strategic requirement for the next phase of growth.
Eramet’s Comilog, the world’s largest manganese mine in Moanda, sits at the center of that transition. The company has flagged power constraints and recently went through management turmoil, but Eramet says those issues are unrelated to its Gabon operations. Even so, the mine will still be expected to comply with Gabon’s local-value rules if the country is serious about transforming its mineral sector.
The larger lesson is that resource abundance alone no longer guarantees development unless countries build the industrial capacity to process what they extract. Gabon is betting that stronger rules, tighter timelines, and cooperation from miners can turn manganese into a broader industrial platform rather than a simple export commodity.
