The recapitalisation of Eramet, which saw Gabon acquire a stake, has sparked an unexpected political challenge in Paris. In a written question published in the official journal on 30 June 2026, hard-left deputy Arnaud Le Gall (LFI-NFP) presses the French government on the true nature of this capital operation. According to the lawmaker, the narrative of strengthening Gabonese mining sovereignty over national resources masks another reality: a financial rescue of the Duval family holding company, Eramet’s reference shareholder via the Société de Développement et de Participations Minières et Industrielles (SDPMI).
Official narrative under scrutiny
The deal had been presented by Gabonese authorities as a strategic advance. The country, the world’s top manganese producer through the Compagnie minière de l’Ogooué (Comilog), a historic Eramet subsidiary, saw this entry into the parent company’s capital as a lever to better capture extractive rents and influence group governance. Libreville has for years pursued a trajectory of regaining control over its strategic resources, exemplified by revisions to the mining code and the state’s repositioning in several sectors.
Arnaud Le Gall directly challenges this interpretation. For the deputy, what is marketed as a sovereignty gain for an African state primarily resembles a lifeline for struggling French shareholders. The Duval family, historically tied to Eramet, faces documented financial pressures within its asset base. A recapitalisation backed by an external sovereign investor mechanically stabilises the shareholder structure without abruptly diluting historical positions.
Gabonese manganese at the core of the stakes
The industrial backdrop weighs heavily on the debate. Gabon provides a decisive share of Eramet’s revenues through Comilog, whose manganese exports feed global steel industries and, more recently, battery value chains. The group is also developing projects in nickel and lithium, critical metals for the energy transition. This operational dependence on Gabon’s subsoil fosters an asymmetry: Libreville supplies the resource, but added value and strategic decisions lie elsewhere.
The entry into the Parisian holding company’s capital aimed precisely to correct this asymmetry. The question, and the core of the parliamentary inquiry, remains: at what price and with what effective counterparts? The LFI deputy questions the financial terms of the operation, the guarantees obtained by the Gabonese state in terms of governance, and any direct or indirect involvement of the French state in the arrangement. He asks the Paris government to clarify its position and specify whether French public interests accompanied the transaction.
A debate beyond the Eramet case alone
Beyond the mining file, the parliamentary query reopens a recurring debate on the Franco-Gabonese economic relationship. Since the political transition in Libreville following the regime change, Gabonese authorities have shown a will to renegotiate inherited balances, in both hydrocarbons and mining. Several long-established French groups have seen their positions challenged or redefined. The Eramet episode fits into this sequence, but with a notable particularity: here, it is the African state that brings capital to a French group, not the other way around.
This inversion explains the intensity of the controversy. For supporters of the operation, it marks the emergence of an African sovereign shareholding capable of influencing the boards of major European extractive companies. For critics, including Arnaud Le Gall, it raises the question of the financial rationality of the investment and the cost-benefit ratio for Gabonese public finances. The French government must provide a written response to the parliamentary question within regulatory deadlines, which could shed light on some still-opaque aspects of the arrangement.
The affair illustrates the growing complexity of economic relations between Paris and its African partners, where every major capital operation now crystallises competing interpretations. The deputy intends to obtain clarifications on all financial parameters of the recapitalisation and any commitments made by the French executive.
