(Business in Cameroon) - On January 22, 2018, Australian mining company Sundance Resources has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Tidfore Heavy Equipment Group Ltd, a Chinese company specialized in the construction and supply of port handling and offshore exploration equipment. This was revealed by a statement of Sundance Resouces whose subsidiary, Cam Iron, oversees the project for the development of Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore (35 million tons of iron) which is located at the Cameroon-Congo border.

“The purpose of the MOU is to provide a framework for cooperation between the parties and their joint venture partners in order to establish the required consortium of expertise to fund or assist in sourcing the funding to construct the infrastructure and to bring the project into operation”, the statement explained.

“Under the MOU, Sundance will sell 51% of its ownership in Cam Iron to Tidfore for a value to be agreed…”, the mining company explained. So, with this explanation, it is to be understood that once an amount is agreed by the two parties for the 51% shares of Sundance in Cam Iron, Tidfore will take control of the project. However, Sundance explained that it would retain the ownership of Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore project for a minimum of 3 years.

In the framework of this MoU, the Chinese company has signed a joint-venture framework agreement with China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC). Under the agreement, Tidfore is to construct the iron ore terminal of Kribi deepwater port from which iron extracted from the mine will be exported. CCECC, on its part, is to construct the railway which will span over 500 km between Mbalam and Kribi.

The arrival of Tidfore on the Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore project thus puts an end to the unsuccessful negotiations between Sundance and China Ghezouba for the construction of the infrastructures which will allow the ore’s exploitation.

 “Sundance is pleased to have reached an agreement with substantial parties to progress the development of the Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore project and now awaits the decision of the government of Cameroon on whether it will grant a further extension”, said Giulio Casello, CEO of Sundance.

Let’s remind that for the umpteenth time, Cameroon had to extend the contract, with Sundance, to January 28, 2018, because of the difficulties of the Australian company to find partners for the project. The Cameroonian government promised however that at the expiry of this deadline, it would extend the contract for 6 months if and only if Sundance makes significant progress in its search for partners.  

Brice R. Mbodiam