The Mabounié niobium and rare earths project is expected to begin works in 2027, according to the report published on 6 November by the Gabonese presidency. Received in China by Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, the leaders of engineering group ENFI presented the programme, of which they are the technical partner, alongside Dusk Gabon.
The announced amount reaches 2 billion dollars. The statement also says earthworks have been entrusted to a Gabonese company. This progress update thus clarifies the preparation of the site, without establishing that the entire financing is secured or that construction of the industrial units has begun.
The programme presented to the authorities combines extraction and local processing in six to seven plants, with nine finished products. For Gabonese companies, the stakes therefore go beyond access to the Moyen-Ogooué deposit and also concern preparatory works and the activities needed to run the future complex.
A revival under way since 2024
This sequence follows an earlier revival. On its website, Dusk explains that an agreement concluded in 2024 with the Gabonese state allowed development and feasibility studies to resume. A roadmap drawn up in early 2025 notably aimed at updating the earlier studies and defining a new reference scenario.
The promoter's technical documentation describes several successive operations, from an open-pit mine to ore concentration, then the separation and purification of the valuable elements in a hydrometallurgical plant. This industrial chain explains why ancillary infrastructure occupies an important place in the project's development.
Industrial and logistical choices still to be settled
Dusk notably mentions the choice of site for the hydrometallurgical plant, port facilities to transport reagents and products, and storage areas for residues. Its presentation of the works studied in 2025 links these choices to reducing the programme's costs and risks.
The announced capacities nonetheless call for a cautious reading. The presidency refers to 16,000 tonnes a year, without breaking this quantity down by product. A technical sheet from Dusk separately presents feasibility targets for contained niobium and separated rare earths. These indications do not allow a consistent revision of industrial capacity to be measured.
The 2027 timetable therefore sits within a project whose studies still have to clarify several industrialisation parameters. Dusk presents the update of the pre-feasibility studies and the definition of development conditions with the state as steps in the revival.