Cement: Tested at Mira, Ombé basalt could reduce imported clinker needs (CFAF 97.3 billion in 2025)

An experimental cement formulation tested at Mira Cement’s laboratory in Douala uses basalt from Ombé in the South-West Region as a substitute material, cutting clinker use by 50 kg per tonne compared with the industrial reference cement. The findings appeared in a study published on September 25, 2026, in Discover Civil Engineering by a research team led by Franck Wilfried Nguimatsia Dongmo. The research offers a potential way to reduce cement makers’ clinker needs, but does not yet demonstrate industrial-scale savings or an actual decline in imports. Provisional statistics from Cameroon’s National Institute of Statistics show the country imported 3.107 million tonnes of clinker in 2025, worth CFAF 97.317 billion, up 20.5% in volume and 14.7% in value year on year.