FYI...OMG, days of our lives!The French > English translation is...

FYI...

OMG, days of our lives!
The French > English translation is a bit iffy, but it seems like the Cameroonian Minister of Mines is in trouble?
I wonder if SDL bribed him as well at some stage, as they allegedly did with Congolese officials?

The last paragraph says it all though... As far as Cameroon is concerned, SDL have no leg to stand on.
It will be interesting to see if the ICC reverse the emergency restraint order next.



Cameroon: How the Minister of Mines wants to sell the country for 94 billion FCFA!

An exclusive investigation by the Digital African News Agency reveals the troubled game, perfidy and cunning of the Cameroonian Minister of Mines, **riel Dodo Ndoké, in the context of the case on the arbitration procedure between the company Sundance Resources Ltd and the State of Cameroon; about the Mbalam mining project. Here is how the Minister of Mines displays in front of the world his excessive appetites, his bloated ego and his irrefutable taste for lucre and his acquaintances with an enemy of the development of Cameroon.

by From our special correspondent

May 10, 2022

On April 5, 2022, the Australian company Sundance Resources Ltd, informed the international mining community as well as the world business community of the positive developments in the legal proceedings initiated against the State of Cameroon and the Chinese company. AustSino within the framework of the attribution of the license of exploitation of the deposit of the iron ore of Mbalam in Cameroonian territory on the one hand.

The Sundance press release states that an arbitration procedure has been opened urgently at the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris and that, at the request of the arbitrator of the Australian party, this jurisdiction has issued an interim order prohibiting to the Republic of Cameroon to grant exploitation rights on the Mbalam iron ore deposit to any party, with the exception of the Cameroonian subsidiary of Sundance called Cam Iron.

The affair which began in 2010 with the granting of the exploitation permit, will burst when in 2018, Cameroon, after having waited for years for the effective start of the exploitation works of the iron ore of Mbalam, the operator Australian went to the Sydney Stock Exchange and raised funds for the development of the project. Tired of waiting for the fulfillment of the Australian's promises, Cameroon decided not to renew the company's operating permit. This is how she moved to France for the purpose of initiating arbitration proceedings at the International Court of Arbitration in Paris.

This procedure mainly concerns Cameroon's non-compliance with the provisions of the operating permit deemed to have been granted to Cam Iron for the development of iron ore at Mbalam in early 2010. Since then, through various maneuvers, the operator Australian Sundance and its local subsidiary, Cam Iron, are seeking to influence these proceedings, including obtaining an order of specific performance to compel Cameroon to issue a presidential decree to formalize and give full effect to the exploitation permit iron ore from Mbalam.

In fact, Sundance, through its local subsidiary, Cam Iron, obtained a mining agreement in 2012 to exploit the Mbalam iron deposit. By this, the company has two years to prove its financial and technical capabilities.

In 2014, at the end of the deadline to prove its technical and financial expertise, Sundance, still unable to do so, requested additional time from the State, as well as its massive participation in the construction effort. This request was crowned by a transition agreement in 2015, after which Sundance must demonstrate its financial and technical capacities.

In 2018, at the end of the exceptional grace period granted to Sundance, the said agreement automatically expires. Having never been able to prove its financial and technical capacities, Sundance therefore remained unable to obtain an industrial exploitation permit.

This is how in December 2020, all shame drunk, after having failed in the development of the Mbalam iron ore deposit, Sundance decided to attack Cameroon at the International Chamber of Commerce for non-attribution of the exploitation permit. of Mbalam, despite the obvious technical and financial inability of the company for 12 years.

The exploitation acts, in particular the exploitation permit for the Mbalam iron ore deposit, therefore expired in 2018 and have never been extended or renewed because, after promises not kept, Sundance had applied for a renewal of the mining license that year, which expired because it had reached the maximum number of extensions possible under Cameroon's Mining Code. Which, in fact, leads to an admission of incompetence on the part of Sundance and its partner, following the forfeiture of rights noted by the Cameroonian mining authorities.

On arbitration

In the second quarter of 2021, the Minister of Mines received several written legal opinions from international law firms, in particular those having successfully defended the Republic of Congo against the same company, clearly demonstrating to him that Cameroon, being in his right, has nothing to fear legally and enjoining him not to give in to threats and sirens trying to lead him into a logic of amicable negotiation, at the risk of weakening the position of the State.

Despite these multiple warnings, in the same second quarter of 2021, the Minister of Mines, **riel Dodo Ndoke, decided to enter into negotiations with Sundance. The expert assessment initially carried out on the amount of expenditure made by Sundance estimates the amount due, and therefore potentially claimed by Sundance, at $17 million. For clarification, these expenses within the meaning of the regulatory and legal texts in force in the Republic of Cameroon, in particular the Mining Code of 2001 and its implementing decree of 2002, or the Mining Code of 2016, are not reimbursable.

But, against all expectations, following meetings with the Minister of Mines, the amount of Sundance's claims is suddenly and brutally revised upwards, thus multiplying from 17 million dollars to substantially 170 million dollars (94 billion F Cfa at the average dollar rate in effect in the summer of 2021).

**riel Dodo Ndoké will try to repeat the similar operation in Congo on August 24, 2021, where he is the VRP of Sundance (letter in support). However, he suffered a bitter failure there, the Congolese authorities being sure of their right against Sundance were tired of this abject blackmail from Australian society. Remember, Sundance has lost a decade of development to the two brotherly countries, after having squandered more than 400 million dollars in funds raised on the stock market and public funds, while refusing in fact the slightest compromise.

The disappointment thus suffered in Congolese territory will lead the Cameroonian Minister of Mines to concentrate on his Cameroonian prey. He will then constantly relaunch his high hierarchy (letter in support) in order to obtain the validation of the disbursement of the 94 billion F Cfa, all this while no legal basis justifies the outrageous financial ambitions of Sundance.

Indeed, on March 23, 2022, the Minister of Mines contacted the Minister of State, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic, to inform him of a curious and scandalous option in the settlement of this scandalous affair. "by which I seek the Very High Instructions of the Very High Hierarchy on the response to be reserved to the request of Sundance Resources Ltd and Cam Iron for the reimbursement of the expenses incurred by these companies during the research phase on the Mbalam site. It should be noted that the agreement of the State of Cameroon for the payment of the amount requested by these companies, i.e. 94,000,000,000 FCFA subject to audit, will make it possible to completely free up the Mbalam site while putting end to ongoing proceedings.”

Where does the 94 billion FCfa alluded to by the Minister of Mines come from?

In fact, a few weeks earlier, in order to give a legal basis to this scandalous undertaking, the Minister of Mines will send a letter of comfort at the end of February 2022 to Sundance, reassuring it as to its rights vis-à-vis Mbalam, this even though he is aware of the sovereign right of the Republic of Cameroon to dispose of its mineral resources.

With the door thus open to all sorts of haggling and fanciful claims, Sundance triggered emergency arbitration proceedings in March 2022, resulting in the issuance of an emergency order against Cameroon, aimed at preventing it from attribute Mbalam to a structure other than Cam Iron.

The purpose of this strategy is to force the hand of the State so that the 94 billion CFA francs claimed are paid. Remember that 90% of this amount will go to the company promoted by the Minister of Mines, Buns Mining, through the agreements made between the latter and Sundance regarding Cam Iron's shareholding.

The State of Cameroon will decide to constitute a council for the follow-up of the procedure before the international jurisdictions concerning this procedure. Thus, on April 18, 2022, the Minister of State, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, sent a letter to the Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, **riel Dodo Ndoké, to let him know, on the very high instructions of the Head of State, that Me Thierry Lauriol, lawyer at the Paris bar, partner in Cabinet Jeantet, already chosen to defend the interests of Congo within the framework of the arbitration proceedings with Sundance Resources LTD, will also have to defend those of the State of Cameroon.

But, using tricks, the Minister of Mines will approach the Minister of State, Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seals in order to convince him of the choice of another lawyer to ensure the defense of the interests of Cameroon in the person of Me Njel Gwet Amos. The latter worked as a trainee lawyer for Sundance and its subsidiary Cam Iron. The choice of this lawyer is therefore not insignificant because he will only serve to defend the selfish and personal interests of the Minister of Mines and his sidekick Sundance in this procedure.

The answer is quickly found: by associating the Sundance lawyer in the Cameroon defense team made up, among others, of Me Njel Gwet Amos, officials from the Ministries of Justice, Mines, External Relations, Finance, Sonamines, etc., the Minister of Mines wants to promote the payment of 94 billion CFA francs to Sundance by the State, a question of puncturing these sums from the State coffers and sharing the fruit with his sidekick Sundance Resources.

Here is how, in parallel with these procedures, a newly created locally company, Buns Mining, of the Buns group, better known in the field of Buildings and public works than for mining developments, was introduced by the Minister of Mines to Sundance. The role of Buns Mining is to sign an agreement with the latter in order to carry out the acquisition of 90% of the shares of Cam Iron, at dirt cheap, as a prelude to the disbursement of 94 billion F Cfa by the State.

By this skilful assembly, Sundance will obtain its 17 million dollars initially expected, while the 153 million dollars will go to the new shareholder who will then be free to make the desired distribution.

By this troubled game of the Minister of Mines in which he misleads the Minister of Justice Keeper of the Seals about the appointment of Me Njel Gwet Amos on April 22, 2022 as counsel for Cameroon while Me Thierry Lauriol had been chosen by the Presidency of the Republic four days earlier, he became an accomplice in a scam or even a robbery by an organized gang of the State coffers with regard to the Micmacs around the appointment of the lawyer from Cameroon within the framework of this affair.

The collusion he maintains with Sundance in this affair is now evident through artifices fabricated from scratch to the effect of despoiling the State of Cameroon of 170 million dollars, of which 90% of this amount will go into his pockets against 17 million to benefit Sundance.

Sundance Resources' approach in this case is all the more an admission of failure as the Congolese authorities had already done so since July 21, 2021. Indeed, by the letter of comfort signed by the Minister of State Congolese in charge of Mining Industries and Geology addressed to the stakeholders of the development project of the Avima, Nabeba and Badondo mines as well as to their technical and financial partners, this one underlined with force and details that Sundance Resources and its partners had lost their rights to the deposits of Avima, Badondo and Nabeba " because of their own incapacity and failure to respect the laws of the Congo and its sovereignty ".

Position of the State of Cameroon

With regard to Cameroon, its position is clear: To pay nothing for the benefit of Sundances Resources, whose technical and financial incapacity has been proven, thus delaying the enhancement and development of the mining resources of this world deposit called to accelerate the emergence of the country. In addition, the Cameroonian authorities are the sole judges of the appropriateness and relevance of awarding a mining exploitation title to an operator. And in this case, the Sundance permits expired in 2018 and had already crossed the extension limits provided for by the Cameroonian mining code.

To be continued…

Translated source:
https://www-lescoopsdafrique-com.translate.goog/a-la-une/camerouncomment-le-ministre-des-mines-veut-vendre-le-pays-a-94-milliards-fcfa/?_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc