The Mbalam Iron Ore project located some 300 km from Cameroon’s capital city, Yaounde in South East of the country, has been taken over by the Chinese Hanlong (Africa) Mining Investment Limited, the majority shareholder in CAMIRON’s mother company, Australian-based Sundance Resources Limited.
CAMIRON is the local mining company involved in the exploration of the Mbalam iron ore. Hanlong (Africa) Mining Investment Ltd became Sundance’s largest shareholder in March 2011, following the take over of shares from the estate of Ken Talbot, a former Director of Sundance Board.
Feasibility studies in the iron ore project have been completed and investors are waiting for the Cameroon government to sign the Mbalam agreement that indicates approval and counterpart financing of the three-year construction phase of about FCFA 2,329 billion, the Chief Executive Officer of CAMIRON, Roger Bogne said in a press interview in Yaounde, Monday, November 28, 2011.
Sundance Resources Limited is reportedly announced to have the final terms of the Mbalam Agreement by the end of December 2011.
A delegation from Hanlong and Sundance are said to arrive in Cameroon soon to discuss with government officials.
The final feasibility studies completed in April 2011 confirmed the technical and economic viability of the Mbalam Iron Ore Project and its status as a world class deposit, Roger Bogne said and further revealed that it contains half a billion tonnes of high grade hematite iron ore resources with 60 percent iron in Cameroon and the Republic of Congo and 2.3 billion tonnes of high grade itabrite.
“We are expecting a long mine life of minimum 25 years, with the first 10 years producing Direct Shipping Ore from High Grade Hematite and then a further 15 years of producing concentrate product from Itabrite resources, Roger Bogne disclosed.
Hanlong (Africa) Mining Investment Limited, is a subsidiary of the Hongkong-based Sichuan Hanlong Group Ltd, one of China’s largest private enterprises.
It has a wide range of portfolios including mining, energy generation, infrastructure development, pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, real estate and tourism.
The British company, Afferro Mining, had discovered some two billion tonnes of iron ore deposits in Nkout, near the town of Djoum in the South Region of Cameroon.
Cameroon’s Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Michael Ngako Tomdio on November 23, 2011, led a government delegation to the exploration site to appraise the exploration work.
Afferro Company with its Cameroon subsidiary, CAMIREX, obtained an exploration licence in 2007. The company’s experts say iron ore has been discovered after the exploration of about 8.9 km from the 20 km to be explored.
They say the area is capable of producing over four billion tonnes of iron ore. Afferro Company has already recruited 300 employees and the deposits could be mined in between 25 to 30 years.
The Mbalam iron ore deposits, the first in the country, is located some 300 km South East of Cameroon’s political capital, Yaounde.
The Chief Executive Officer of CAMIRON, Roger Bogne, the local company in charge of mining the Mbalam iron ore, in a recent press interview in Yaounde said the final feasibility study on the Mablam Iron Ore Project completed in April 2011 confirmed the technical and economic viability of the project.
The Mbalam iron ore deposits are classified as world class.
