TheCOMILOG Cableway was one of the longestcableways in the world, until its closure in 1986.[1] Theropeway conveyor ran for 76 km fromMoanda in theHaut-Ogooué Province of south easternGabon toMbinda in theRepublic of Congo.
In 1954, theCompagnie Minière de l'Ogooué (COMILOG), a French-American company formed the previous year, decided to beginminingmanganese in the Gabonese town of Moanda. The town lay deep in therainforest, andexport of the metal was a problem. The nearest reliable transport route was theCongo-Ocean Railway, but this lay more than 250km away, across difficult terrain.George Perrineau was charged with constructing a transport link between the two.[2]
It was decided to construct a cableway from Moanda to Mbinda, and then branch of the Congo-Ocean Railway toMont Bello, from which the existing railway would link to theport ofPointe-Noire.[3] The conveyor was routed via the small town ofBakoumba, which became the centre for the maintenance of the structure.[4] The mine opened in 1957, and the Cableway was opened in 1959, the link finally being completed when the Congo-Ocean Railway branch opened in 1962.[3]
The Cableway consisted of ten sections, and had 858 supports of between 5 and 74m in height.[5] One tonne cars carried the manganese twenty-four hours a day.[6]
The government of Gabon was keen to ship the valuable manganese ore through its own ports, and routed a new railway, theTransgabonais, from the national capitalLibreville to Moanda, and on to Franceville. When this opened, in 1986, the cableway was closed. While Moanda continued to prosper, Bakoumba and Mbinda suffered from the withdrawal of their main industry. COMILOG funded the creation of theLékédi Park at Bakoumba to encourage the development of a tourist industry,[6] but some groups in Congo felt that unemployment there was not addressed.[3]
