UPDATE 3-INTERVIEW-Cameroon targets $10 bln mines investment

(Adds details of new port in pars 16 and 17)

By Tansa Musa

YAOUNDE, July 25 (Reuters) - Cameroon is luring a flood of new mining investors who it hopes will invest over $10 billion and create over 27,000 jobs in the central African nation over the next few years, a top mines ministry official said.

Rich in minerals -- including bauxite, iron ore, cobalt, nickle and uranium -- but long troubled by poor infrastructure, red tape and costly corruption, Cameroon is now attracting the attention of some major new companies.

They are spurred on by soaring global commodity prices and friendly mining legislation offering tax holidays in country. The government says the 63 mining exploration permits it has handed out over two years are proof of the levels of interest.

"With all these, the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Technological Development estimates foreign direct investments in the sector in the next few years to stand at some 4,377 billion CFA francs ($10.46 billion)," said Oscar Matip, the ministry's director of mines and geology.

"All these investments will boost economic development needed to create about 27,300 jobs, raise incomes, fight poverty and improve the standards of living of the people," he told Reuters in an interview this week.

Cameroon is the world's fifth largest cocoa producer and last year pumped just over 30 million barrels of oil, though reserves have diminished fast since peak production in the 1980s.

Cameroon's Prime Minister said this month that economic growth was accelerating due to mining and infrastructure projects and should reach 6 percent-6.5 percent in 2009.