Ogooue-Lolo

Ogooue-Lolo province spans the eastern interior where the Ogooue River drains the western slopes of the Chaillu Mountains and the Lolo River feeds into the main watershed. The provincial capital Koulamoutou serves an agricultural population engaged in subsistence farming and increasingly in gold mining as artisanal extraction spreads through Gabon's interior. The Trans-Gabon Railway, built to transport manganese from Haut-Ogooue to Libreville, passes through the province.

The province demonstrates transitional dynamics between mining and agricultural zones. While Haut-Ogooue to the south hosts industrial manganese extraction, Ogooue-Lolo's mineral deposits support smaller-scale operations. Artisanal gold mining has expanded as global prices rose, creating informal economy activity that provides income but generates environmental and social disruption. The railway provides transportation infrastructure that most interior provinces lack.

Ogooue-Lolo's position along the Trans-Gabon Railway creates development potential that parallel provinces cannot access. Mining companies moving equipment and ore use the rail corridor, generating employment and commerce in station towns. But the province remains peripheral to Gabon's oil-dominated economy, receiving less investment than coastal regions while experiencing out-migration to Libreville that other interior provinces also face.