25 March 2021
COMMENCEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION AGAINST CONGO
Sundance Resources Limited (“Sundance” or the “Company”) wishes to announce today that, through its
subsidiary Congo Iron SA (“Congo Iron”), it has referred its dispute with the Republic of Congo (“Congo”)
to arbitration in London under the rules of the International Chamber of Commerce (“ICC”). The dispute
arises out of Congo Government's unlawful expropriation of Congo Iron's mining permit in the Sangha
region of Congo and related rights and interests (“Nabeba”).
As announced on 3 March 2021, Sundance, through Congo Iron, agreed to extend the period of
negotiations with Congo by 30 days (that was until 18 March 2021) to allow discussions to progress with
Congo. Having extended the negotiation period, there was no meaningful engagement with the Congo
Government, and indeed during the extended negotiation period the Congo Government saw fit to deal
with Nabeba in the manner described below.
On 13 March 2021, Congo announced through its Department of Finance that it had signed agreements
with Sangha Mining Development SASU (“Sangha Mining”) to exploit the iron ore from three tenements
in the Sangha region of Congo – Nabeba, which was expropriated from Congo Iron, and two other projects,
Badondo and Avima – and export the ore through the Congo port of Pointe Noire. The announcement
included a potential capital investment of $US18.5 billion to generate an iron ore production rate of
100Mtpa (“Sangha Mining Project”). The announcement stated that commencement of exploitation was
scheduled for Q4 2021, with exports of iron ore to begin in 2023. The Department of Finance disclosed
that Chinese parties were involved in the signing ceremony with Sangha Mining though their identity and
role were not disclosed.
Sundance makes the following observations regarding the Sangha Mining Project and Congo’s definition
of the new iron ore project:
• The Mining Convention between Congo and Congo Iron, covering the Nabeba Iron Ore Project, still
exists and has the force of law in Congo;
• The Sangha Mining Project will require a railway line of some 1400km, which is almost three times
the length of the railway required for Sundance’s Mbalam-Nabeba Iron Ore Project, and which will be
through uncharted regions in the Congo Basin (including significant nature reserves);
• There is no evidence of any engineering work to support the Sangha Mining Project’s proposed
production rates, costs and iron ore reserves. The only company that has ever delivered reserve
numbers and engineering work in Congo is Sundance (through Congo Iron), as part of the Company's
work to develop the world-class Mbalam-Nabeba Iron Ore Project;
• In Cameroon, where Sundance has a fully engineered rail route, the schedule for construction of the
rail route is four years using Chinese contractors with world-class capabilities;
• The Sangha Mining Project timeline is impossible to meet, which supports Sundance’s belief that no
engineering work has occurred; and
• Sangha Mining is an unknown company, recently registered in Congo and operating under a number
of $1 shell companies in Hong Kong and Anguilla, a low-transparency jurisdiction in the Caribbean.
