COMILOG Cableway

The COMILOG material ropeway was one of the longest cable cars in the world. It transported 1957-1986 manganese ore from Moanda in the province of Haut - Ogooué in eastern Gabon over 76 kilometers to Mbinda in the Republic of Congo.

The Compagnie Minière de l' Ogooué ( COMILOG ), founded in 1953, a Franco-American mining company, began the following year with the preparations for the exploitation of a manganese mine in Moanda. The place was in the rainforest without significant transport links to the Atlantic. It was therefore decided to build a ropeway from Moanda after Mbinda, a location right on the other side of the border with the Republic of Congo, where the ore was loaded onto a well -to-build railway link to the Congo - Ocean railway to the port city of Pointe -Noire. The work at the mine began in 1957, the ropeway was completed in 1959 and the railroad to Mbinda finally went into operation in 1962.

The ropeway had ten sections and 858 columns with a height of between 5 m and 74 m. The 1-to- tubs were 24 hours a day on the road.

With the completion of the Trans - Gabon Railway from Libreville to Moanda in 1986, the ropeway was closed.

The COMILOG continues in the manga mining and its processing in Moanda worked and has now taken over the former state-owned Trans - Gabon Railway.