Cameroon Décret n° 2024/05061 — modalités de délivrance, cession, transmission, renouvellement et retrait des titres miniers

Mechanism

Décret n° 2024/05061 du 13 décembre 2024 is the primary implementing regulation under Title III of the 2023 Code Minier (Loi n° 2023/014 du 19 décembre 2023). It specifies the administrative procedure for every stage of the mining-title lifecycle:

• Délivrance — the application dossier requirements, MINMIDT review timeline, and conditions under which a permis de recherche (exploration permit) or permis d'exploitation (exploitation licence) is granted
• Cession et transmission — conditions under which mining titles may be transferred between companies, including the State's pre-emption right and SONAMINES consent requirements
• Renouvellement — the renewal regime, notice periods, and any conditions attaching to a renewal (including renegotiation of SONAMINES equity terms at renewal stage)
• Retrait — the grounds and process for withdrawal/revocation of titles, including the remediation-obligation framework

The companion Décret n° 2024/05062 covers the technical conditions for opérations minières (mining operations proper: extraction, processing, storage, transport within the mine perimeter) and together the two décrets form a complete implementing package that makes the 2023 Code Minier operative.

SONAMINES free-carry and State equity: The 2023 Code Minier established the principe of SONAMINES holding a 10% free-carried interest in any Cameroonian mining entity and the State's right to acquire additional equity. Décret 2024/05061 specifies the procedural trigger — at the point of granting an exploitation permit, the titre-holder must formally register the SONAMINES free-carry with MINMIDT, and any planned cession must include SONAMINES consent. Without this décret, the free-carry mechanism was unenforceable in practice; with it, every new exploitation licence granted from December 2024 onward is subject to the automatic 10% State-through-SONAMINES equity dilution.

Downstream implications

• Canyon Resources (Camalco bauxite — Minim-Martap): Operationalisation of the title-transfer and equity-participation procedure directly affects Camalco's ability to farm-down to a strategic partner or access project finance, since any cession now requires SONAMINES consent and State equity-participation review.
• Sundance/Cradle Resources (Mbalam-Nabeba iron-ore): The Mbalam Cross-Border Iron Ore Project straddles Cameroon and Congo; the Cameroonian side requires a renewed exploitation licence framework under the 2023 Code Minier. Décret 2024/05061 is the procedural gate through which that licence renewal will flow.
• Geovic Mining (Nkamouna Co-Ni-Mn): The Nkamouna project has been in development limbo since the early 2010s; the new title-withdrawal and renewal procedures define the conditions under which MINMIDT could either reinstate or revoke the existing permit.
• International majors screening entry: Any new exploration permit application in Cameroon from Q1 2025 onward is processed under the Décret 2024/05061 framework — prospective entrants (Rio Tinto, Anglo American, Glencore via joint-venture screening) must factor the SONAMINES equity obligation and the new dossier requirements into FDI economics.
• Structural comparison: The décret mirrors the implementation package for the 2023 Mali Code Minier (Loi 2023-040 + Décret 2024/0396 filed separately as 2024-07-09-mali-decret-2024-0396-code-minier-implementing-decree) — both are West/Central African resource-nationalist implementing décrets that converted foundational mining codes into operative machinery for upstream FDI gate control.

Open questions

• Final text of Article 12 (SONAMINES equity-registration procedure) needs JORT/Official Gazette cross-reference to confirm exact percentage trigger at exploitation-permit grant stage.
• Whether the Nkamouna permit (originally a Convention Minière under the pre-2016 code) is grandfathered or subject to renegotiation under the new transfer/renewal regime.
• Companion Décret 2024/05062 modal specifics for the Mbalam cross-border corridor (whether it harmonises with the Congo counterpart framework under the bilateral project treaty).