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Cameroon iron ore project
Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:16pm GMT

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(Repeats story first published March 17)

YAOUNDE, March 17, (Reuters) - Australian mining firm Sundance Resources (SDL.AX: Quote) said on Thursday recent finds at its Mbalam iron ore project in Cameroon had more than doubled the amount of indicated resources in the area.

Indicated resources give the West Africa-focused miner, confidence in the potential of iron ore to be mined in the area.

Sundance said indicated high-grade hematite had more than doubled to 417.7 metric tonnes, following a large drilling programme in the past 12 months, compared with 169 MT previously reported.

News of the find pushed Sundance shares up 9.3 percent on the day.

"This resource estimate further strengthens our confidence of the viability of this project. We are now approaching half a billion tonnes of high quality iron resources and 85 per cent of that is now indicated," Sundance Chief Executive Giulio Casello said in a statement.

"We have a globally significant project capable of producing 35 million tonnes per annum of high-quality iron ore for at least 25 years," he said.

Casello said the first phase of the project consists of a planned railway and deep water port. The company last year delayed the start-up of production to 2013.

The company said in February the estimated $3.4 billion cost of the project was increasing. [ID:nWEB7519]

(Reporting by Tansa Musa, Writing by Bate Felix, editing by Jane Baird)