International investors, mining experts and directors of financial institutions, Cameroonian decision-makers, development partners and other key actors in the mining industry will from this Wednesday May 29 to Friday May 31 appraise strides in the country’s mining sector, stakes and challenges and what needs to be done to enhance the sector so that it conveniently and substantially contributes to the country’s emergence vision.

A high-level forum, code-named, “Cameroon International Mining Conference & Exhibition (CIMEC 2013)” begins holding at the Yaounde Conference Centre today May 29 on the theme, “Sustainably developing Cameroon’s mineral resources for the benefit of future generations.”

According to the chairman of the organising committee, Dr. Fuh Calistus Gentry, also Secretary of State in the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Technological Development, the event, the first in its kind, will feature discussions, exhibitions and visit to some of Cameroon’s key mining sites. The over 400 participants from within Cameroon and other countries like South Africa, Canada, France, Denmark, Britain, Australia and America, among others, will network with key decision-makers from the industry and government. They will also hear about the latest technological solutions that could assist in achieving efficiency and innovation objectives, get abreast with what the Cameroonian government is doing to encourage investments as well as seek ways of promoting products and services among a predefined decision-making audience.

Besides evaluating the path covered with the already explored 40 per cent of the national territory wherein substantial quantity of gold, iron ore, cobalt, nickel, uranium, diamond and other precious metals have been uncovered, the Yaounde conference is also expected at term to propose the way forward in exploring the remaining 60 per cent national territory as well as enhancing local processing of mineral processing of mineral products before export.