Same story, different outlet.

Exploitation of Mbalam iron: Paul Biya says no to the Australian company SUNDANCE

After Sundance's exclusion from Mbalam's iron project, Paul Biya refused to give in to the Australian junior's blackmail.

Read the insights of economic journalist Albin Njilo:

When the projects of great ambitions initiated by President Paul Biya were launched in 2004, Cameroon bet on the exploitation of its gigantic mining potential. While these projects were based on the construction of infrastructure and the development of mining projects, Cameroon opened finally its basement to explorations.

Iron from Mbalam, iron from Nkout, Fifinda, bauxite from Minim Martap, Ngaoundal, Akonolinga, Fongo Tonga, Foumban, Uranium in Poli and Lolodorf, cobalt and nickel from Nkamouna, Gold and Diamonds, in 2019 the country revealed to the world the existence of 300 types of minerals in three regions of the country. Sapphire, zinc, rare earths, uranium, nickel and manganese are among the rich minerals discovered in a World Bank-funded project.

When the projects of great ambitions initiated by President Paul Biya were launched in 2004, Cameroon bet on the exploitation of its gigantic mining potential. While these projects were based on the construction of infrastructure and the development of mining projects, Cameroon opened finally its basement to explorations.

Iron from Mbalam, iron from Nkout, Fifinda, bauxite from Minim Martap, Ngaoundal, Akonolinga, Fongo Tonga, Foumban, Uranium in Poli and Lolodorf, cobalt and nickel from Nkamouna, Gold and Diamonds, in 2019 the country revealed to the world the existence of 300 types of minerals in three regions of the country. Sapphire, zinc, rare earths, uranium, nickel and manganese are among the rich minerals discovered in a World Bank-funded project.

This year of 2004, Paul Biya was unaware that he had just made his direct collaborators future investors in the mining sector. The latter rushed to tax havens, Australia, Delaware, Virgin Islands, etc. To create phantom companies to which they distributed operating permits. Unfortunately for his collaborators, only the president is empowered to validate the granting of operating permits.

The case of Mbalam's iron

After the signing of a memorandum between the Minister of Transport of Cameroon, and a group of Chinese companies, AustSino and Bestway Finance Ltd, five new Chinese public companies wish to join the consortium. These are Yiantian Port Chinese public company specializing in the construction of the ore terminal, China Railways Corporation Co (CRCC), Chinese public company specializing in the construction of railways, Metallurgical Construction Corporation (MCC) public companies specializing in the exploitation of iron ores, the China Baowu Steel Group former state-owned company Baosteel, it is the largest steel manufacturer in China, for iron processing, and finally Shanghai Tsingshan Mineral Co Ltd, distribution and transport of metals around the world , public company based in Shanghai. All owned by the Chinese state. This is a revelation made by the presidency of the republic which in its correspondence mentions that it will be up to Sonamines to manage the process of their integration into the consortium.

Undoubtedly a cartridge that President Paul Biya reserved both for Cameroon and for the administrative mafia which in March 2006 entrusted to an Australian junior without any experience the third largest iron reserve in the world, Mbalam-Nabeba.

The Australian junior Sundance is a start-up whose shareholders in this project are a former Minister of Mines of Cameroon, his wife, a son of a general. They will succeed in convincing Congo on the part of Nabeba.

Once chairman of the steering committee of this project in 2009, the current Minister of Finance led to the signing of an agreement in 2012. A mining agreement that will have made Cameroonians dream and represented a lot of hope for the President Paul Biya.

It was all a bluff

Despite the moratoriums granted by Cameroon to the Australian company Sundance, the latter has never succeeded in convincing the financial partners to develop this project. On June 20 and 21, 2015, the Cameroonian Prime Minister paid a visit to the Middle Kingdom, and as a result of his trip, a promise of funding of around 2000 billion CFA francs (between 1000 and 1500 billion FCFA for the journey of iron and around FCfa 450 billion for the ore terminal).

Dismissed from this project, Sundance has for some time been brandishing the threat of international courts in the hope of obtaining from Cameroon a sum of 94 billion FCFA. A blackmail to which Paul Biya refused to give in by opting for the courts. It is a revelation to invest in Cameroon citing official emails including the letter from the Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, dated April 18 and addressed to the Minmidt

Albin Njilo

Translated source:
https://actucameroun-com.translate.goog/2022/05/17/exploitation-du-fer-de-mbalam-paul-biya-dit-non-a-la-compagnie-australienne-sundance/?_x_tr_sl=fr&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp



I'm not sure if the translator is having trouble translating, or whether a lot of this French/African commentary is jibberish to begin with!