(Business in Cameroon) - With a signature announced for December 2015, then postponed to a later date, the partnership agreement with the company China Ghezouba, to carry out the works for the construction of infrastructure (500 km long railway and ore terminal at the deep water of Kribi) linked to the project to operate on the Mbalam iron deposit, straddling Cameroon and Congo, is still awaited over a year and a half later.

The hope of seeing this agreement signed seem to have even disappeared. This is at least what suggests the activity report as at end June 2017 of the junior Australian mining company Sundance Resources, promoter of this project meant to exploit to iron deposit with a potential officially estimated at 40 million tons.

Indeed, with the reluctance of China Ghezouba who, after a pre-agreement with the Cameroonian State, is now citing the weak economic situation for the international iron ore prices to avoid committing to this project, Sundance Resources reveals in the above-mentioned report, that it is now working with the government in the search for alternative investors, including Chinese companies. And that discussions with these potential new partners have been ongoing since the start of the 3^rd quarter of 2017.

The approach used by the junior Australian mining company can be explained by the pressure applied on this mining group (who has the responsibility of securing funding for the construction of the mine) from the Cameroonian government.

Indeed, the management of Sundance confessed in the activity report for the first semester of 2017, even though the agreement for the Australian mining group on the Mbalam project has been extended to 26 January 2018, the Cameroonian government has added as condition to an ultimate extension for a period of six months (thus June 2018), that “Sundance must be able to prove that important progress has been made with regards to the financing of the Mbalam iron ore project, either with their owns funds, or with a credible partner”.

In other words, after several years of development on this ore project, which so far has not attracted many investors, the State of Cameroon (who itself has difficulties finding investors for the construction of the infrastructure linked to the project) has given until June 2018 to Sundance Resources to fund the required partners to build the mine, or withdraw from the project otherwise. A situation which would certainly please China Ghezouba, who according to sources close to the project, has discreetly hinted to the Cameroonian authorities its desire to be the sole investor on this mining project (eventually with other Chinese partners), but not with the initial sponsor which is the Australian mining group. As a reminder, with the inability of Sundance Resources to raise all the funds necessary for the launch of the operations on the Mbalam iron deposit, the Cameroonian government took the commitment, from June 2015, to find on its own the funding for the construction of the Mbalam-Kirin railroad (between FCfa 1,000 and 1,500 billion) on the one hand, and on the other hand, the ore terminal at the deep water port of Kribi (approximately FCfa 450 billion), which would help to export the iron from the Mbalam deposit. Only funding for the construction of the mine remain in the bill of specifications given to Sundance.

Brice R. Mbodiam

Lire aussi:

02-07-2015 - L’Etat camerounais renforce son positionnement sur le projet d’exploitation du fer de Mbalam

02-12-2015 - Le Cameroun est proche d'un accord définitif avec des Chinois sur le chemin de fer Mbalam-Kribi

13-01-2016 - Cameroun : la signature du contrat des infrastructures du projet fer de Mabalam reportée sine die