Compagnie minière de l'Ogooué
The Compagnie minière de l'Ogooué, or COMILOG, is a manganese mining and processing company based in Moanda, Gabon.
It is a subsidiary of the French metallurgical group Eramet. The company is the world's second largest producer of manganese ore.
At first the ore was carried by a cableway to the border with the Republic of the Congo, then by rail to the sea at Pointe-Noire.
In the 1980s a railway was built to carry the ore through Gabon to the sea near Libreville.
Abandoned cableway pylons
Ore trucks on the Trans-Gabon Railway
Town of Moanda
Wharf at Pointe-Noire
Moanda is one of the largest towns in Gabon, lying on the N3 road in Haut Ogooué. It is also one of the most important manganese mining towns in the world, under the auspices of the Compagnie Minière de l'Ogooué (COMILOG), which began mining in 1957. Moanda has a population of around 39,298 inhabitants and is the second largest city in the Haut Ogooué Region, after Franceville. It is also a border town, lying 100 km away from the border with the Republic of Congo.
Moanda
Rhodochrosite from a Moanda mine