Comilog adjusts its ambitions –

General management and management staff shared and explained on Wednesday, with force and detail, the various reasons leading to the temporary cessation of manganese production operations at the Ogooué Mining Company (Comilog). A suspension which therefore obliges the Eramet Group to revise its production ambitions downwards and to adjust its objectives for its Gabonese subsidiary of Comilog, for the year 2024.

In consideration of the new objectives, the volumes of manganese ore produced and transported for 2024 are therefore revised to be between 6.5 and 7.0 million tonnes compared to 7.0 and 7.5 million tonnes initially announced. As a result, the Group’s sales volumes of high-grade manganese ore are now estimated at between 6.0 and 6.5 million tonnes, including approximately 0.7 million tonnes of internal sales, we learn.

An explanation sequence on the current manganese production situation © DR.

The Managing Director, Léod Paul Batolo said on Tuesday that the Ogooué Mining Company was facing a deterioration in carbon steel market conditions in China, leading to a sharp drop in ore purchases by Chinese producers. manganese alloys.

Added to this unfavorable context is a sudden increase in the supply of low-grade ore mainly produced in South Africa. This situation led to a market imbalance which weighed heavily on sales of high-grade ore produced in particular at Moanda in Gabon, as well as on the market price index, “decreased by 2 in just 3 months”explained Léod Paul Batolo, to justify the temporary suspension of Comilog’s high-grade ore production for three (3) weeks, he said.

However, “transport and boarding activities will remain operational given the stock situation. The list of agents and partners affected by this decision will be established by the Comilog Management Committee and will be communicated as soon as possible, as well as the system deployed during this period.we recall, reassuring in the same time “that no measure impacting jobs is envisaged during this period”.

*A view of Comilog executives and management staff © DR*

Manganese is Gabon’s second largest export product, representing nearly 11% of its global sales. The Ogooué Mining Company (Comilog), a subsidiary of Eramet based in France, is the largest producer (extraction and processing) of manganese ore in Gabon and in the world.

Comilog produced 7.4 million tonnes in 2023 for a global production of around 18.5 million tonnes each year. Its direct contribution to the Gabonese economy was 229.5 billion CFA francs during the same year.

Elliott Ana Wonder