RPT-Sundance: Big finds in Cameroon iron ore project

Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:16pm GMT

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

Sundance to build a railway line and port for Mbalam iron ore export venture

Sunday, 13 Feb 2011

Reuters reported that Australia's Sundance Resources wants Chinese companies to build a railway line and port in Cameroon vital to its Mbalam iron ore export venture.

Mr Giulio Casello MD at Sundance Resources said that the project is also expected to cost more than the USD 3.4 billion initially thought.

He said that agreements had been signed with China Rail and China Harbour to build 490 kilometers of rail line linking two mines in the Mbalam area to a port on the Cameroon coast capable of handling 35 million tonnes of ore a year for a decade.

He added that the initial capital costs were pegged at USD 3.4 billion but the figure was likely to increase due to the addition of the Nabeba mine in Congo Brazzaville.

The Nabeda mine would need 60 kilometers of railway line and a crushing and sorting facility, he said.

Mbalam, Sundance's main project, is among a handful of big iron ore developments in west and central Africa and is seen as a cornerstone of Cameroon's effort to diversify its largely oil dependent economy into mining.
(sourced:reuters)