Lom Pangar: Spillage to pose flood risk for 36 villages

Spillage of the Lom Pangar Dam for the water retention site is likely to flood 36 surrounding villages.

The activity will take place tomorrow, September 15.

After a refusal of corporations of craftsmen to move from the area, the Minister in charge of Mines Exploitation and reiterated this Friday.

At the moment, the area is said to be in high-risk, because rising waters will result in flooding of 36 surrounding villages. In these villages as well as on the banks of the river Lom, unfolds an intense mining activity. 5357 mining artisans and 31 mechanized small-scale mining companies were deployed there.

It's true, the area is equipped with gold and a large part of this metal is found in the Lom River. The boroughs of Belabo, Bertero-Oya and Ngoura are also affected. With the activation of the dam, the water will reach three billion m3 of restraint.

In anticipation of the risk that the operation is likely to generate, “officials of the company, Electricity Development Corporation (EDC), owner of the project, undertook awareness-raising campaigns to bring mining operators located on the flooding areas to urgently take all measures to leave these sites,” said the Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development (Minmidt), Emmanuel Bonde, during the press briefing he gave on Friday in Yaoundé in the company of the Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary.

But they are resistant. “We were informed of the refusal of artisans and especially of the promoters of these companies to release these sites allocated to them as part of gold rescue operation launched in October 2007,” indicated the Minmidt.

According to Emmanuel Bonde, these craftsmen and companies continue to operate safely on the areas of flooding, despite the risks of ‘burial’ they are exposed to.