The illicit normal 

Michael N. was about to go to bed that Friday night when his phone rang. It was a strange number, but when he picked the call, the voice was familiar. The conversation lasted just for a few seconds and then he dropped with a smile on his face. “Tomorrow is going to be a wonderful day”, he told his wife who was already waiting for him in bed.

The wife did not question further for she knew the husband will definitely not tell her much that night. She however became curious when Michael got up the next day and started preparing for work. “Today is Saturday, you are not supposed to go to work,” she spoke in a low tune as she stepped down from bed to do her usual morning chores.

The couple were living in Kambélé III, a locality in the East region of Cameroon where Michael had secured a job as labourer with a Chinese mining company “Good-luck Mining”. 

Kambélé III is found within the Batouri council in the East region. Batouri is itself some 415 km (286 miles) east of Yaoundé, political capital of Cameroon. 

“I really have to go to work today, one of my partners in Bertoua needs mercury,” he told the wife, promising to return early.

Mercury is a chemical widely used in the extraction of gold in Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) sites.  In our research, we discovered that the practice known as “amalgamation” is common in most, if not all the mining sites in Cameroon’s East region.

The chemical is very dangerous, and harmful to the environment and humans, especially women and children. 

On the 28th of August 2019, the then Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development (MiNMIDT), Gabriel DODO NDOKE, banned the use of mercury across the national territory. On the field, the ministerial decision is far from being respected. The chemical continues to circulate in the country, and accusing fingers are pointing at Chinese nationals for promoting its spread. 

According to the Center for Environment and Development (CED), some two Chinese companies, Menchang Mining and Zinquo Mining are using and allowing significant amounts of mercury to spill over in watercourses in the East region.

The mercury circuit

When I embarked on investigating the illicit flow of mercury in Cameroon, one of the first persons I met was Michael. The first day I arrived at Kambélé III, he was among a group of 3 young men drinking in a small beer parlour. From their discussions, I noticed they were artisan miners in the locality. 

Michael was very receptive when I approached him asking if I can join them share another bottle together. After a while and as we were discussing, I faked a call telling my supposed caller that I am still to get the product as planned. The idea was to give them the impression that I am in search of something in the locality. 

“You seem new here, are you in search of something,” Michael asked. His countenance changed when I mentioned that I am urgently in need of mercury for a client in Bertoua who pays very high. He paused for a while looking at his two friends who equally looked at each other. I watched their movements pretending to concentrate on my Phone.

“I don’t have any idea about mercury,” he said. “They don’t sell it here, I hear it is the Chinese people who sell it”, one of Michael’s friends added. All efforts for them to lead me to a mercury dealer failed as they claimed not to know any.

When I retired to my hotel room that evening, I thought my approach was wrong. I then decided to involve a third party, someone who masters the area so well. That is how the next day, accompanied by a local of Kambélé, I  traveled to Kambélé II, another mining locality in Batouri and met with the brother of an alleged mercury dealer, who took us to the dealer but after close to 2 hours of conversation, nothing good filtered. He actually showed us a good quantity of mercury but was not ready to tell us how and where he got the product from.

“I am showing you this because you say you have never seen it, but don’t expect much from me about mercury,” the dealer said. 

 “Don’t even expect anyone here to tell you anything.”

After spending 2 days in the East region visiting the different mining localities and talking with artisanal miners, I discovered that the informal and illicit flows of gold perpetuate the use and spread of mercury in the region. Often, mercury is supplied to upstream partners as a way of securing gold flows. For example, gold buyers will double as mercury dealers to local miners and the sale price of gold is directly related to the provision of mercury. In this way, the mercury and gold supply chains create a self-reinforcing cycle that can be difficult to break. The mercury circuit is very much closed and the main actors are keeping sealed lips for fear of breaking the chain and exposing the activity.

Officially, there is no existing mercury shop in Kambélé and its environs.  Even in the entire East region, you can check from January to December, you won’t find a mercury shop. This confirms allegations that the circulation of mercury in the region is done entirely in the ‘dark’ and the actors are ready for any eventuality.

In Kambélé III, my partner had reserved a small motel at the entrance to the village for me. We returned there late in the evening after a hectic day in Kambélé II. We sat at the reception for a while so I could watch  a TV programme that was going on given that there were no television sets in the rooms. As I concentrated, a commercial bike stopped outside and a young man in his early 20s entered and discussed briefly with the receptionist and immediately left. 

When I separated with my partner who was a local of Kambélé II, I did not reach my room when the receptionist approached me telling me that the young bike rider who entered while we were watching TV left a message for me.

The message was clear, “don’t spend the night again in this hotel for your safety. Someone wants to help you, all he needs is your phone number”.

I had read stories of how colleagues were attacked in the East region and some arrested and detained as they tried to investigate mining activities. One week before I traveled to the East, a colleague who returned from Kambélé II, told me how they spent 5 days investigating mercury flow and left without a clue.

I hesitated, but later dropped my number with the receptionist and left the motel. That same night I rented a bike which dropped me in Batouri town where I checked into a hotel with the intention of leaving for Yaounde the next day. I was afraid I could be attacked by either the forces of law and order or agents of Chinese miners, who are acting as spies among the population. 

Chinese miners at heart of mercury flow 

A report on Curbing Illicit Mercury and Gold Flows in West Africa: Options for a Regional Approach produced by the Secretariat of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), reveals that Chinese nationals are responsible for smuggling mercury into the sub region.

According to the report, there is a dearth of trade data on mercury in the region, as well as globally. Although some seaports, through which mercury is shipped into the region, do register imports, most mercury enters the ECOWAS region as undeclared or misdescribed goods. Furthermore, when mercury is in transit, it is not technically an import of the country where it is offloaded from vessels, so it is not recorded as an import in official trade statistics. Because mercury tends to be dispersed throughout the region along informal and illicit supply chains after it leaves the port, the lack of data at this point is a major loss, even if it is not technically an import of the country where the port is located. 

The fact that there is not a mercury-specific trade category heightens the challenge, as multiple trade codes are applicable. For example, in Côte d’Ivoire, mercury imports have been recorded under the designation ‘compounds, inorganic or organic, mercury, excluding amalgam’. By contrast, in Togo, customs label mercury imports as ‘chemical products’, grouping it with other chemicals, which make it difficult to track mercury imports

A UN report says China is the largest primary mercury producer but does not report any official export in official trade statistics, and is considered a major source of illicit mercury flow in ECOWAS.

The situation in Cameroon is similar to what is happening in other African countries. Cameroon is not a recognized mercury production country, meaning all the mercury circulating in the country is imported and mostly in the ‘dark’. Most trade is informal, unregistered and clandestine. 

Mining activities in the East region of the country are predominantly carried out by Chinese companies.

I was still in Batouri when my Phone rang, and it was an unknown number. “It’s me who requested your number in Kambélé III”, a deep voice at the other end said. I tried to find out who he was, but he asked me not to bother and that I should just call him “The Game”. 

“The Game” was very instrumental in this investigation. Though he did not throw more light on how mercury enters the country, it was through him that I got confirmation of the presence and use of mercury inside Chinese – owned mining sites in Kambélé. According to him, “huge quantities of mercury are usually packed inside small plastic bottles which are then placed in pipes that are loaded inside containers”.

“When such containers containing mercury are transported into the company from the seaport, only Chinese nationals have the rights to offload them,” he said, adding that, “when access is given to non – Chinese nationals to offload a container, they know that there is no mercury inside”.

“The Game” reveals that at times, Chinese nationals smuggle mercury into the country hidden inside their luggages. 

At the Good-luck Mining Company in Kambélé III, like in the other Chinese-owned companies in the East region, Chinese nationals are the only ones having access to the chemical. “Chinese supervisors are the only ones responsible for applying mercury during the amalgamation process,” says “The Game”.

All attempts to get data on mercury transit at the Kribi Port Authority did not yield fruits. An agent of the Communication and Public Relations Unit of the port said he has never heard of a case of illegal mercury transit at the port. He promised to crosscheck with his colleagues and get back to me. But at press time, he was yet to respond. 

“The Game” revealed to us that most of the containers that entered Good Luck mining to his knowledge were picked up by private drivers (contracted by Chinese miners) from warehouses in Douala. 

The spillover 

Contrary to information circulating that Chinese nationals are the ones who sell out mercury to local artisanal miners in the East region, “The Game” confirms the contrary to us. He however still throws the responsibility of the spill over on the Chinese.

Most, if not all the mercury used by local artisanal miners in Kambélé I, II, and III, come from within the different Chinese companies in the localities.

When Michael N. decided to go to work on his off day, his mission was to smuggle the chemical from the company which he will then trade it outside. 

He is one of the labourers working at the gold processing machines of the Chinese company. The processing machines contain green carpets on which the supervisors (Chinese nationals) constantly pour mercury to absorb gold residues from ores.

At the end of the washing process, the labourers are charged to clean the carpets to recover the mercury and gold residues stuck on it which the Chinese will collect for further processing.

 According to “The Game”, that is where the labourers profit from the inattention of the supervisors to smuggle some of the carpets which they later clean and extract both the mercury and gold residue. 

“That is one of the ways in which mercury finds its way out of the Chinese companies, and is sold to gold collectors (buyers) who then spread it to local artisanal miners,” “The Game” revealed.

Worth noting is the fact that mercury can be used and reused up to three times before it gets bad.

From the revelations of “The Game”, mercury only leaves the Chinese companies to local miners through the ‘dark’. 

When Chinese companies want to relocate their mining camps, labourers are usually given access to their belongings, and that is another moment where those who happen to come across mercury might smuggle some. 

“At times Chinese men will bring in their Cameroonian female lovers into their camps, and some are coming with the intention of smuggling the chemical to trade outside the companies,” says “The Game”.

Local mercury trade

Most of those behind the distribution of mercury in the East region are gold collectors. They are the ones who buy it when it exits the Chinese companies. “Most collectors are based in Batouri and Bertoua and have agents around mining sites who do the job for them”, says “The Game”. 

In the East region, 1 capsule of mercury is estimated at FCFA 6000 at its lowest. Collectors are the ones who will buy mercury in cash and circulate to artisanal miners. The artisanal miners do not buy mercury in cash; they receive it up-front from collectors as a condition to trade gold with them. 

Most of the workers at the processing units in the different Chinese companies are equally carrying out artisanal gold mining activities in leftover pits. At times they will smuggle gold, and use it themselves for the activity, and at times it is their wives involved in the activity who will need the chemical. 

Fruitless mercury fight

In 2017 the Minamata Convention on Mercury entered into force, a product of the global call for action to address the threat of mercury emissions to health and the environment. To meet its objective of protecting human health and the environment from anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds, the convention mandates parties to the convention to take steps to reduce, and where feasible eliminate, the use of mercury and mercury compounds in mining and processing activities.

The adoption of the Minamata Convention has profound implications for Cameroon that signed the convention on September 24, 2014 and ratified it on the 18th of December 2018. Since then, the government has multiplied efforts to curb the spread of the chemical in mining related activities.

Unfortunately, most mercury related operations that have been banned by the government of Cameroon are still being practiced on the field especially in the East region. The chemical still continues to enter the country. The transit at the level of the different ports in Cameroon remains a mystery.  “The Game” is of the opinion that either custom officials are been compromised by Chinese importers, or the custom system is actually porous.

Besides the mercury ban from the government in 2019, a press release of 22 December 2023, from Minister Fru Calistus Gentry of Mines, Industry, and Technological Development equally banned all artisanal and semi mechanized mining activities in the country operating beyond a depth of 30m, with the exception of semi mechanized mining activities whose promoters need to first submit a mining plan study on stability of the soil slope.

The ban was as a result of numerous death and accidents registered in the sites due to abandoned pits and the use of mercury. 

According to the new mining code in Cameroon promulgated by President Paul Biya in 2024, artisanal mining must be concentrated at a maximum depth of 10 meters and using methods and processes that only involve human power.

On July 27, 2022, the Senior Divisional Office of the Kadey, Yakouba Djadai, suspended all mining sites in Kambélé III. Nine companies were concerned, and 6 were owned by Chinese nationals.

Despite these numerous measures, the illicit flow of mercury in the East region continues to gain ground with more and more local artisanal miners joining the business as days pass by.

According to Evelyn Ngo Nyemeck, scribe of the National Brigade for Control of Mining activities in the Ministry of Mines, “the government is trying to track down the lawbreakers but it’s decentralized departments are understaffed, the administration’s control over this activity is slightly lacking”.

A new flow

My initial objective was to uncover the illicit flow of mercury in Cameroon, but as the investigation progressed, I discovered another more dangerous chemical that is being used by miners in the East region. That is Cyanide.

Cyanides are fast acting poison that can be lethal and come in liquid, colourless gas or crystal forms. All forms can cause deaths within minutes to hours of exposure.

While mercury is imported illegally by Chinese Nationals, Cyanide is fraudulently brought into the country mostly by Burkina Faso gold dealers. The chemical passes through Central Africa Republic and transits into the country somewhere in the Adamawa region. It is loaded into gallons and transported to the East region inside heavy trucks as agricultural products. 

Cameroon’s public media, CRTV reported on August 26, 2024, that customs officers in the East region apprehended some 113 bags containing 50kgs of cyanide each around Betare – Oya. The substance was filled inside gallons from the Central Africa Republic.

Just like with mercury, Cyanide is equally used in the process of amalgamation in mining sites in the East regions.

Human, Environmental consequences

The environmental challenges resulting from the use of mercury and cyanide cannot be over emphasized. Land degradation due to gold mining activities are common in Batouri, water polluted by chemicals are mostly found in Betare Oya, and Ngoura, air pollution, deforestation and abandoned pits are equally some of the hazards caused to the environment.

In 2017 FODER, a forest and rural development organization in a report counted some 703 abandoned pits including 139 artificial lakes on an area of 93.66 hectares in Batouri.

In June 2022, the Center for Environment and Development (CED) reported that 40 liters of mercury and cyanide were dumped into the waterways flowing through Kambélé III by a Chinese company. This generated serious health effects among the indigenous communities including chronic metallic mercury vapour intoxication, heart palpitations, kidney abnormalities, cognitive dysfunctions, skin, brain, or liver cancer, respiratory failure and even death. 

In October, 2022, FODER published an analysis of hair samples taken from 60 gold miners working in Batouri, Kette, Ngoura, and Bétaré-Oya. The  study revealed that the total mercury concentration was above the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended limit in 71.7% of the individuals sampled.

Women are highly exposed. If a pregnant woman for instance is exposed to mercury, the inhaled chemical will spread to the placenta and block oxygen flow to the feotus and can provoke a miscarriage, birth defects, or growth retardation.

Children are not left out. In 2021, Cameroon’s National Mining Corporation, SONAMINE estimated children in mining sites in the East region at 800 with their ages ranging between 5 – 17 years.

Another FODER study (2015-2023) revealed that 205 deaths were recorded in the East and Adamawa regions, 12 including cases of drowning, and 109 others were due to rockfalls and landslides provoked by the mining activities. 

Cameroon has taken important steps towards tackling harmful mercury emissions from the country’s artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) sector through the development of a  National Action Plan (NAP) for the Minamata Convention on mercury.

The NAP has been prepared in response to Article 7 of the Minamata Convention and with the intention of reducing the use of mercury in the ASGM sector to protect human health and the environment from this dangerous neurotoxin.

It is the result of a Global Environment Facility (GEF)-funded project led by UNIDO in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED).

“The NAP is an important step forwards for Cameroon in the battle against mercury pollution,” affirms Eliane Mereng Bodo, Director of Standards, Licensing and Visas, MINEPDED and National Focal Point for the Minamata Convention on Mercury in Cameroon. 

“As well as improving our understanding of the national situation with mercury and ASGM, the NAP also provides us with a clear strategy for tackling this issue with the appropriate tools, knowledge and skills. This gives us confidence that we can meet our obligations under the Minamata Convention with the support of partners like UNIDO.”

The ASGM sector is the world’s largest source of mercury pollution from intentional uses as mercury is simple to use, cheap and easily available. In Cameroon, ASGM is widespread, with the presence of 60 active sites in the country confirmed through the project. 

“A collaborative approach to developing the NAP was important, with a series of stakeholder consultation meetings leading to the adoption of national objectives and the consolidation of the NAP Implementation Plan,” explains UNIDO Project Manager, Rodica Ella Ivan.

Project personnel visited 16 sites in the Divisions of Mbéré, Lom and Djerem and Kadey and tested soil, water and fish samples around ASGM operations to check mercury levels. Mercury use in the artisanal gold production sector was estimated by experts at equivalent to 15.1 metric tons/year with a mercury/gold ratio of 1.13.

The project’s independent terminal evaluation is currently underway and according to its initial findings, artisanal miners who have participated in the project’s awareness activities have reported that they have stopped using mercury, prioritizing health benefits over financial concerns.

Among those stakeholders, the Ministry of Mines, Industries and Technological Development (MINMIDT) and the Ministry of Public Health (MINSANTE) were involved in the project, as well as representatives of civil NGOs, a university, the Women in Mining Association, and others.

This work was produced as a result of a grant provided by the Investigative Reporting Workshop for Journalists in Cameroon project, implemented by the
Cameroon Association of English-Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) and funded by U.S.
Embassy Yaounde.