Gabon’s 20% Mining Share Plan Is Preliminary, Potash Firm Says

Gabon has not adopted a proposed 20% state share in mining production, and the idea remains preliminary, Canadian developer Millennial Potash said on 5 November after seeking clarification from the country's Ministry of Mines. The company described the ministry's response in a public statement; TFNOS has not independently obtained a written ministry clarification.

The statement follows a 3 November interview in Gabonese newspaper L'Union in which Mines Minister Sosthène Nguema Nguema said the government intended to raise the state's share from 10% to 20% across iron, gold, manganese, rare earths and potash, with a revised Mining Code expected soon. That interview described an ambition, not a law already in force.

Millennial, which is developing the Banio potash project, said shareholders had questioned how the minister's comments might affect the project. According to the company, ministry representatives told it that a possible production-sharing contract model, comparable to arrangements in the oil and gas sector, was only under consideration. Its design, conditions and even the percentage remain undefined, Millennial said. The company added that no formal adoption decision had been taken.

Two different kinds of state participation

The distinction is significant for interpreting the numbers. Millennial described the current legal entitlement as a **10% free-carried interest** in mining projects: a state ownership stake that does not require the government to finance that share. The possible 20% figure was discussed as a **production-sharing** arrangement. Those mechanisms are not automatically equivalent, and neither the draft formula nor the treatment of royalties, taxes and project costs has been published in the material examined.

In the original L'Union interview, the minister argued that Gabon should retain a larger portion of the value generated by its mineral resources. His remarks were broad and emphatic, but they did not identify an enacted statute, an effective date or a finalized project-level formula. Millennial's subsequent account indicates that those legal details remain open. The ministry has not issued a separately verified public explanation in the sources reviewed for this report.

What happens next

Millennial said a finalized Mining Code proposal would first be presented to operators through their representative organization, UMIGA, before parliamentary consideration and presidential promulgation. It estimated that process could take five to twelve months **if** the government proceeds. That is the company's expectation, not an official legislative timetable or a guarantee of passage.

The company also said ministry representatives told it that any future changes would not apply to holders of exploration permits or companies in an exploration phase under their existing legal and contractual framework. The actual treatment of specific projects must ultimately be checked against signed licences, mining conventions and any adopted law. Millennial said government support for its Banio project continued and that it remained in discussions over permits and fiscal terms.

The mining-code clarification is distinct from Gabon's recent withdrawal of gold-mining permits. TFNOS reported separately on the minister's 73-permit figure and the unresolved differences with the ministry's earlier tally. Neither that permit dispute nor this preliminary policy discussion establishes misconduct by a particular company.

The next verifiable milestones are a published draft Mining Code, a formal ministry or cabinet statement explaining the proposed state share, industry consultation records and any enacted provisions. Until then, describing the 20% model as an adopted mining rule would be inaccurate.