Aust-Sino and Bestway Finance, two companies with links to the shelved Sundance mining project are building a railway to connect Cameroon’s Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore mine to the country’s coast.
Under a deal signed with the country’s mines minister, Gabriel Dodo Ndoke, the two companies will build a railway that will consume over 500kms of steel rail, to transport Mbalam’s iron ore to the coast for export mostly to China. The mine is estimated to contain around 775mn mt of iron ore.
Bestway Finance is registered in Hong Kong and Aust-Sino is based in Australia. The latter was a major backer of the Sundance mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) until the relationship ended in 2020.
The DRC had revoked Sundance affiliate Congo Iron’s permit for the Congolese segment of the mine in December 2020. The permit was awarded to Sangha Mining Development, an affiliate of Bestway. Sundance proceeded to arbitration.