Producer

Eramet / Comilog (Gabon Manganese)

French mining conglomerate (Euronext: ERA, HQ Paris); through Comilog subsidiary operates world's 2nd largest manganese ore mine in Moanda, Gabon (producing >70% of Gabon's ~10M tonne annual output; Gabon is world's 2nd largest manganese producer). High-grade ore: 45-50% manganese. CRITICAL FUTURE DISRUPTION: Gabon government issued ban on export of unrefined manganese ore effective January 1, 2029 — forcing Eramet to process locally or exit the market. Eramet is simultaneously negotiating with the Gabonese government while building local processing capacity. Same Eramet also produces nickel (New Caledonia) and lithium (Argentina).

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Inputs supplied

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Goods downstream

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Facilities

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Stories

What else they do

Business segments

The company's full revenue map — where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.

  • Comilog Manganese (Gabon)

    40%
  • Nickel (New Caledonia)

    25%
  • Lithium (Argentina)

    20%
  • Alloys & Steel Technologies

    15%

Intelligence

What's known

Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains — chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.

  • Did you know2023

    Eramet is simultaneously: (1) the operator of the world's 2nd largest manganese mine in Gabon (manganese for batteries, steel, and EMD supply chains), (2) the operator of New Caledonia nickel laterite mines (nickel for stainless steel and EV battery cathode), and (3) a lithium brine developer in Argentina (lithium for EV batteries). All three minerals -- manganese, nickel, and lithium -- are critical inputs for EV battery cathode active material. The same French mining company is simultaneously exposed to three EV battery supply chain inputs from three different countries -- Gabon (with 2023 military coup and 2029 ore ban), New Caledonia (with ongoing pro-independence political tensions affecting nickel industry viability), and Argentina (with chronic macroeconomic instability and currency controls). A single French mining conglomerate's strategic and operational challenges in three countries simultaneously affect three separate EV battery supply chain inputs.

    Eramet
  • Origin2023

    Eramet's Comilog subsidiary has mined manganese at Moanda, Gabon since 1960 -- the mine started operations in the same year Gabon gained independence from France, making Comilog effectively as old as Gabonese sovereignty. The original concession was granted by France's colonial administration, and Comilog's post-independence operating history has navigated successive Gabonese governments, including Omar Bongo's 42-year presidency (1967-2009). Eramet (parent company) is partially owned by the French state (27% via Sofremi and public institutions) -- a French state-linked company has operated in Gabon since colonial times. The 2023 military coup that removed Ali Bongo Ondimba (Omar's son) and the 2029 ore export ban represent a structural shift in the Eramet-Gabon relationship: the Gabonese government is using resource nationalism to force higher domestic value-add from French-controlled mining operations that have extracted Gabonese manganese since the country's first days of independence.

    Eramet
  • Incident2023

    Gabon's government issued a ban on the export of unrefined manganese ore effective January 1, 2029 — requiring that all manganese mined in Gabon (world's 2nd largest manganese producer, >70% from Eramet's Comilog subsidiary in Moanda) be processed locally into higher-value products before export. This mirrors similar resource nationalism policies in Indonesia (bauxite, nickel), Zimbabwe (lithium), and Kenya (fluorspar). For Eramet/Comilog, which has been exporting manganese ore from Gabon since 1960, the ban forces either massive local beneficiation investment or production curtailment. Global manganese markets may face supply disruption as the 2029 deadline approaches if Comilog cannot build processing capacity fast enough — and EMD producers who source Gabonese ore would face feedstock scarcity.

    Eramet / Comilog