AUSTRALIAN miner Sundance Resources has won an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration dispute with Cameroon, securing roughly $616m in damages, interest and costs linked to a long-stalled iron ore venture, said Reuters citing the company.
The Perth-headquartered firm said arbitrators concluded that Cameroon had failed to meet its legal commitments to Sundance and its local unit, Cam Iron SA, regarding their stake in the Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore deposit, a resource straddling the Cameroon-Republic of Congo frontier.
Mbalam-Nabeba ranks among Africa’s largest untapped iron ore reserves, said Reuters. The project fell into dispute after Cameroon stripped Sundance of its mining rights and subsequently handed the Mbalam permit to a rival developer, prompting Sundance to pursue arbitration for damages.
This outcome contrasts with a setback Sundance suffered in January, when a separate tribunal rejected its $8.8bn claim against the Republic of Congo over the same deposit’s Nabeba component.
Sundance also said the panel determined Cameroon breached an arbitration accord by disregarding an ICC emergency ruling from March 2022 that had prohibited the country from awarding the Mbalam permit elsewhere.
Cameroon’s mining ministry had not responded to inquiries by publication time. The ministry’s chief had previously said in July that Mbalam formed part of new developments expected to lift yearly mining income to 1 trillion CFA francs, or about $1.75bn.
Sundance Chairman David Porter said the firm, alongside legal counsel Clifford Chance and funder Burford Capital, welcomed the ruling. Cameroon must now pay the award, though Sundance noted it may need to pursue enforcement if payment isn’t made voluntarily.
