Against a backdrop of insufficient knowledge on the mineral potentials of about 60 per cent of the national territory, the government of Cameroon has opted for an airborne geophysical survey to explore the uncovered part. This is through a one and half-year project (January 2014 to June 2015) code-named, "Airborne Geophysical Survey Campaign" to cover a surface area of 187,200 km in the North, Adamawa, East, West, Littoral and Centre Regions.

In a press briefing in Yaounde yesterday January 21 to explain the raison d'être of the project jointly funded by the World Bank and the government, the Minister of Industries, Mines and Technological Development (MINMIDT), Emmanuel Bonde, said the process will consist in well-equipped planes carrying mining experts and security men flying at low altitude over the concerned areas in view of achieving an inventory through the mapping out of the mining potentials of the areas. He disclosed that the areas concerned by the flying activity include Ndikiminiki, Bafia, Linte, Nanga Eboko, Bertoua, Deng-Deng, Ngaoundere, Tibati, Poli, Tchamba as well as Bafoussam and its environs among others.

Flanked by the Secretary of State in MINMIDT, Dr Fuh Calistus Gentry, Minister Bonde noted that inhabitants of these localities will in the days ahead witness the survey planes flying as proof of mining exploration. The project will be carried out by a Canadian Company, Geotech Airborne Limited, specialised in the field and which officials said has so many years of experience acquired in countries with established mining potentials like Niger, Mozambique, Namibia and Tanzania among others.

It emerged from the press briefing that the project would at term take the amount of Cameroon's territory whose mineral potentials are known from the current 40 per cent to about 65 to 75 per cent. Beneficiaries, the Minister said, will include the entire population thanks to the favourable conditions from the promotion of economic activities around exploitation areas, the private sector through the improvement of the investment climate and the development of infrastructure, mining companies through up-to-date data and the communities concerned through the local economic possibilities that come with such projects.