The verdict in the dispute between the State of Cameroon and the Australian junior mining company Sundance Resources concerning the Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore project, initially expected by the end of 2025, then for March 2026, has been postponed again, this time to the end of 2026. The International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris, which has been seized of the case since 2021, reportedly made this decision due to the addition of new elements to the file by the Cameroonian party.
Sundance accuses Cameroon and Congo of having withdrawn the development of the mining project from it in favor of Chinese partners. The Australian company is claiming 3,401.6 billion FCFA in damages from the State of Cameroon, or 5.5 billion dollars at the 2022 exchange rate. This amount represents 36 times the estimate of 94 billion FCFA corresponding to the expenses incurred by the company during the research phase, according to Gabriel Dodo Ndocké, former Cameroonian Minister of Mines, who passed away in January 2023. Although Dodo Ndocké believed that the payment of this "debt" would end the arbitration proceedings, the Presidency of the Republic preferred to allow the proceedings to continue before the ICC.
In January 2026, the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC rejected Sundance in its proceedings against Congo, which is seen as a favorable element for the Cameroonian position in this case. This dispute originates from the difficulties encountered by the junior mining company in finalizing the development of the Mbalam project. Despite several extensions of its exploration license granted by the State of Cameroon, Sundance has never managed to find the technical and financial partners necessary for the realization of the project's infrastructure. These infrastructures included the construction of a railway of more than 500 km between Mbalam and Kribi, the development of the mine and the establishment of a mineral terminal at the deep-water port of Kribi. Discussions held with China Gezhouba in 2015, Tidfore Heavy Equipment Group Ltd in 2018, and then AustSino from 2018, all ended in failure.
As early as 2021, Cameroon turned to AustSino Resources Group Ltd and Bestway Finance to revive the project's development. Sundance is contesting this decision, claiming that it was wronged by the State of Cameroon and by the Chinese group AustSino. After negotiations with Sundance failed, AustSino signed a contract directly with the State of Cameroon on June 25, 2021 in Yaoundé, relating to the railway component. Since August 17, 2022, Cameroon Mining Company Sarl (CMC), linked to Bestway Finance, has held the mining permit for the Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore deposit on the Cameroonian side. On the Congolese side, the project has come under the control of Sangha Mining, another subsidiary of Bestway Finance.
The Mbalam-Nabeba mining project plans for the development, in two phases, of the iron ore deposits located in Cameroon and Congo. Sundance Resources planned, in a first phase, an annual production of 40 million tonnes of direct shipping ore over 12 years. The second phase was to extend the operating life by more than 15 years, with the production of a high-grade hematite itabirite concentrate. The addition of documents from the office of the former Minister of Mines, Gabriel Dodo Ndoke, who died in January 2023, led to this new postponement.
