Sundance Expects To Meet April Deadline for China Bid Conditions
11/04/2012 5:47PM
PERTH (Dow Jones)--Sundance Resources Ltd. (SDL.AU) expects to receive final clearances from the Cameroon and Democratic Republic of Congo governments in a little over two weeks, enabling the Australian miner to proceed with a delayed A$1.65 billion takeover by China's Hanlong Mining.
Sundance Chairman George Jones said he plans to travel to Cameroon "the week after next" in the expectation of receiving verification of a critical government "convention for Sundance's multibillion dollar Mbalam iron ore project.
Jones plans to arrive in the country April 23 and aims to stay a couple of days "hopefully to receive the letter from the Prime Minister saying it is all done," Jones said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires.
The convention, alongside a mining license from neighboring Congo, is one of the last remaining hurdles to Hanlong pushing ahead with its takeover, which the Sundance board recommended in October.
Earlier this year Sundance and Hanlong extended the target date for satisfying the takeover conditions by eight weeks until April 27.
The postponement was to allow Sundance sufficient time to settle the terms of the Cameroon convention and, separately, the Congo permit.
Achieving those will be a significant event in terms of Hanlong being able to secure bank funding for the takeover, Jones said.
Upon confirmation of the West African clearances, Hanlong will have another three weeks to conclude a credit-approved term sheet with the China Development Bank.
Despite previous delays, Jones said he is confident of meeting the latest deadline.
"I've had a couple of visits there to make sure it's on track and I've been assured that (April 27) is the date everyone is working towards," Jones said.
"I know nothing about it not being achieved - I'm expecting it to happen," he added.
Sundance's entire senior executive team is in West Africa trying to ensure the deadline is met, Jones said.
Sundance's Mbalam project aims to mine 35 million metric tons of iron ore annually from a site on the borders of Cameroon and Congo, making it an attractive prospect to reduce China's dependence on Australia for the key raw materials used in steelmaking.
-By Stephen Bell, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; 61-8-9244-4243
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 11, 2012 03:47 ET (07:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
SDL Price at posting:
43.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
