Cameroon Issues Mbalam Mining Permit to 3rd Party in Breach of ICC Injunction, page-41

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Fer de Mbalam: the exploitation permit granted to Cameroon Mining Company, a company linked to Bestway Finance



Friday, 09 September 2022 06:09

(Business in Cameroon) - On August 17, 2022, the Head of State, Paul Biya, signed a decree granting the exploitation permit for the Mbalam iron deposit to the Cameroon Mining Company Sarl (CMC). The information revealed on September 5, 2022 by the Australian mining junior Sundance Resources, the first developer of this project, is confirmed by various sources within the Cameroonian administrations involved in the process.

" It's true ! The Mbalam iron mining permit has actually been signed. But, it has not been made public. Wait until it is published in the official journal to have it," said a source familiar with the matter from whom Invest in Cameroon requested the presidential decision.

Created only on March 16, 2022, the Cameroon Mining Company Sarl is, according to Sundance Resources, a subsidiary of Coconut Logic Holdings Pte Ltd. This investment vehicle based in Singapore also controls the capital of Bestway Finance, managed in Cameroon by Alexandre Mbiam (photo), son of the famous Cameroonian lawyer Emmanuel Mbiam. Created at the end of 2020, Bestway Finance has already, in partnership with the Chinese AustSino, won all the infrastructure contracts related to the Mbalam mining project (construction of the 510 km railway between Mbalam and Kribi and concession of the port ore terminal in deep water of Kribi).

Blurry in the procedure

Thanks to the operating permit signed on August 17, 2022 by the President of the Republic of Cameroon, under number 2022/395, Bestway Finance and its parent company thus take full control (mining and infrastructure) of the gigantic mining project of Mbalam-Nabeba (in Cameroon and Congo) as Sundance Resources at the time. Indeed, since 2021, the Congolese government has ejected Congo Iron, a local subsidiary of Sundance Resources, from this project in favor of Sangha Mining, a subsidiary of Bestway Finance.

From good sources, the awarding of the Mbalam iron mining permit to CMC Sarl occurred after the signing, on March 31, 2022, of the mining agreement between this company and the State of Cameroon. This raises the question of how this company managed the feat, just two weeks after its creation, of signing a mining agreement which is conditional on the presentation to the State of updated exploration reports, studies feasibility and environmental, etc.

In any case, according to Sundance Resources, " no evidence was found regarding this agreement and no evidence was found on previous work by Cameroon Mining Company " on the Mbalam-Nabeba mining project. Unless, speculates a source inside the local mining sector, the beneficiary of the exploitation permit was simply inspired by previous work on the project, carried out by Sundance Resources, to obtain its mining agreement with the State of Cameroon.

Such a hypothesis is likely to further harden the litigation opened before an international arbitration court by Sundance, against Cameroon and Congo. These two states are accused of having illegally excluded the Australian junior-mining company from the project, although the latter, for about 7 years and numerous extensions of the deadlines for the expiry of the agreements with these states, was unable to hook financial partners to move into the operational phase of the project.

These worrying precedents

But, beyond the vagueness that surrounds the process that led to the awarding of the mining permit for the Mbalam-Nabeba iron deposit to CMC Sarl, it is the ability of this mining company to actually be able to carry out this gigantic project. mine that needs to be interrogated. Indeed, in Cameroon, mining companies have been flourishing for years, very ambitious at first glance, but which generally turn out to be simple speculators, unable to carry out the projects entrusted to them to the end.

Among the most significant cases, we can cite Geovic Mining, an American-Canadian junior mining company, which has long maintained the hope of exploiting the nickel, cobalt and manganese deposit of Nkamouna, in the east of Cameroon, project still at half mast since the award of the exploitation permit in 2003. A few months ago, Geovic ended up selling its assets on this project to Phoenix Mining, a junior miner holding a license in the mine artisanal in Ghana.

This is also the case of the American company Hydromine, which, in the early 2000s, aimed to invest 5,000 billion FCFA in the bauxite deposit of Minim-Martap, in the northern part of the country. Faced with its inability, the Cameroonian government had, in July 2018, to resolve to transfer the permits for this mining project to the Australian Canyon Resources. These permits were renewed in February 2022.

As a reminder, the iron deposit of Mbalam-Nabeba, torn between Cameroon and Congo is a world-class reserve. Its operating plan provides for a deployment in two phases. Sundance Resources Ltd, the first developer of the project, was counting on an annual production, in the first phase, of 40 million tons of direct delivery ore, over a period of 12 years. The second phase will consist of extending the exploitation of the deposit for more than 15 years, producing a high-grade hematite itabirite concentrate. But, to get there, overall investments of more than 5,000 billion FCFA are expected.

Brice R. Mbodiam


Source:
https://www-investiraucameroun-com.translate.goog/mines/0909-18407-fer-de-mbalam-le-permis-d-exploitation-attribue-a-cameroon-mining-company-une-societe-liee-a-bestway-finance?_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc