Sundance Resources Wins $616 Million Award in Cameroon Iron Ore Arbitration
Key Takeaways
- •An ICC tribunal awarded Sundance Resources $616 million in its arbitration dispute with Cameroon over the Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore project.
- •The tribunal found Cameroon unlawfully revoked Sundance’s mining rights and later granted the Mbalam permit to another developer.
- •Cameroon was also found to have breached an arbitration agreement by disregarding a March 2022 ICC emergency order during the dispute.
- •The ruling follows Sundance’s January loss in a separate arbitration against the Republic of Congo over the Nabeba portion of the project.
- •Sundance’s recovery of the award depends on whether Cameroon pays voluntarily or the company pursues enforcement proceedings.
Sundance Resources has secured a $616 million arbitration award after an International Chamber of Commerce tribunal found that Cameroon breached its legal obligations in relation to the Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore project.
The Perth-based miner said the ICC tribunal ruled in favour of Sundance and its subsidiary Cam Iron SA, concluding that Cameroon unlawfully revoked the company’s mining rights before granting the Mbalam permit to another developer. Sundance disclosed the decision in an update on the Cameroon proceedings.
The tribunal also determined that the Cameroonian government breached an arbitration agreement by disregarding an ICC emergency order issued in March 2022. That order barred Cameroon from awarding the permit to another party while the dispute was under way.
The ruling concludes a six-year legal battle over one of Africa’s largest undeveloped iron ore deposits. It also represents a significant reversal for Sundance after the company lost a separate arbitration against the Republic of Congo in January, when a tribunal dismissed its $8.8 billion claim over the Nabeba portion of the project. Mining.com previously reported on that decision here.
The award gives Sundance a monetary remedy in the Cameroon dispute, but it does not by itself resolve the practical question of recovery. Cameroon must now either satisfy the award voluntarily or face enforcement proceedings from Sundance, a process that can determine how quickly, and in what form, the company is able to collect.
Historic project
Cameroon’s mines ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In July, the country’s mines minister said Mbalam was among new projects expected to help increase annual mining revenue to 1 trillion CFA francs, equivalent to $1.75 billion.
That backdrop makes the dispute notable beyond Sundance’s balance sheet: Mbalam remains tied to Cameroon’s broader effort to turn undeveloped mineral deposits into state revenue, while the arbitration outcome highlights the legal risks governments and developers face when mining rights are cancelled or reassigned during contested permitting processes.
Sundance was developing the cross-border iron ore project in 2010 when a plane carrying the company’s entire board crashed in the Republic of Congo. Eleven people died in the crash, including director and major shareholder Ken Talbot, who was one of Australia’s best-known mining entrepreneurs at the time. Sundance issued a missing aircraft update following the incident.