Gabon: French Mining Neighborhood Digs in as Gabon Tightens Grip on Manganese Exports

French mining community Eramet has pledged to safeguard over 10,000 jobs in Gabon as Libreville pushes ahead with a belief to ban raw manganese exports from 2029.

The tear, led by President Brice Oligui Nguema, was introduced on the weekend as half of a broader national strategy to industrialise Gabon’s economy and add more rate to its plentiful pure sources.

Eramet, the main shareholder in Comilog – Gabon’s leading manganese mining firm – acknowledged it has acknowledged the authorities’s decision and will continue to maintain interaction with officers “in a spirit of constructive partnership and mutual appreciate”.

The French firm additionally committed to preserving the 10,460 native jobs sustained by Comilog and its transport arm, Setrag.

‘Upskilling’ Gabon’s crew

President Oligui, who took energy following a 2023 coup and was elected in April 2025 with almost 95 p.c of the vote, is seeking to reshape Gabon’s economic mannequin.

Manganese – a key ingredient in steelmaking and increasingly in electric automobile batteries – is one of Gabon’s high export earners alongside oil and trees.

The export ban on unprocessed manganese, which will rob form from 1 January 2029, is designed to reduction native processing, upskill the crew, and boost tax revenues.

“Gabon is giving the mining sector three years to put collectively,” the authorities acknowledged in an announcement on Saturday, outlining plans to toughen the transition with a new public-non-public investment fund.

Push for domestic refining

The policy shift echoes a growing fashion across Africa, with international locations such as Guinea, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania additionally moving to retain more rate from their mineral wealth by restricting raw field matter exports and encouraging domestic refining and processing.

Eramet – which operates the arena’s finest manganese mine at Moanda – processes some ore in the neighborhood in Gabon however restful depends heavily on exports to international markets including China, Europe, and the United States.

The company had temporarily suspended operations in Gabon during the 2023 coup and scaled wait on production targets in 2024 amid market headwinds.

What’s at stake for French businesses after the coup in Gabon?

Inventory market turbulence

Shares in Eramet fell by over five p.c in Paris on Monday following information of the ban, sooner than recovering rather to trade 4 p.c decrease by mid-morning.

Analysts narrate the affect of the export restrictions will count on how rapidly Gabon and its companions can develop native processing means.

Despite its pure wealth, around one-third of Gabon’s 2.3 million of us live in poverty.

The authorities hopes that keeping more of the associated rate chain within the nation will trade that.

Whereas the course ahead affords challenges, there are indicators of optimism, as  Eramet has already shown its willingness to adapt in Indonesia, where it just no longer too long in the past signed a memorandum of understanding to invest in native nickel processing – a identical transition, after Jakarta banned raw nickel exports.