Sundance Resources has faced Cameroon’s categorical refusal to enter into financial negotiations afer failing to bring to fruition the Mbalam Nabab. The government is now favoring other partners for the exploitation of the precious mineral.
The history of the Mbalam-Nabeba mining project began in 2006 when Sundance Resources announced the acquisition of a 100% stake in Cam Iron, holder of the EP92 permit covering a vast area of 875 km². With the signing of an agreement in principle in 2008 with the Cameroonian government, the outlook seemed promising.
However, despite multiple extensions of its license, the Australian company failed to bring together the technical and financial partners necessary to implement the project. Successive negotiations with Chinese groups such as China Gezhouba in 2015, Tidfore Heavy Equipment Group Ltd in 2018, and AustSino beginning the same year never came to fruition. The lack of concrete results gradually eroded the Cameroonian government’s confidence, forcing it to explore other alternatives.
Faced with Sundance’s repeated failures, the Cameroonian government decided in 2021 to entrust the development of the project to other partners, notably AustSino Resources Group Ltd and Bestway Finance. This transition was contested by Sundance, which took the matter to the International Chamber of Arbitration in Paris to claim reimbursement of its exploration expenses, estimated at 94 billion FCFA. Since August 17, 2022, Cameroon Mining Company Sarl (CMC), a company linked to Bestway Finance, officially holds the exploitation permit for the Mbalam-Nabeba deposit, thus confirming Sundance’s definitive ouster.
In a letter dated March 27, 2025, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, Minister of State and Secretary-General of the Presidency of the Republic, formally rejected any initiative to negotiate with Sundance Resources. Responding to a proposal from the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Justice, Jean de Dieu Momo, he reiterated President Paul Biya’s consistent position: Sundance cannot claim any right or title to the Mbalam iron ore deposit. The letter emphasizes that the permit initially granted to Cam Iron in 2005, and renewed several times, definitively expired in 2015. It adds that Sundance’s Cameroonian subsidiary has never proven its ability to exploit the deposit, thus constituting a “serious failure to fulfill its contractual obligations.” Consequently, any attempt at negotiation would be contrary to the “Very High Instructions of the Head of State.”
While Sundance battles in court, Cameroon is making progress on the ground. The long-delayed exploitation phase of the Mbalam iron ore deposit effectively began on December 22, 2023. The government is now counting on its new partners to bring a strategic project for the national economy to fruition.
