Mining Weekly reported that the Cameroon government has signed off on the development of the Mbalam iron ore project inking the Mbalam Convention with ASX listed Sundance Resources.
The convention underpins an agreement between Sundance subsidiary Cam Iron SA and the government, outlining the fiscal and legal terms and conditions for the development and management of the Mbalam project.
The convention with a number of other conditions including an endorsement by the Cameroon National Assembly would lead to the mining permit and the start of construction.
The signing of the convention was also a condition precedent to the 45c a share takeover offer of Sundance by Hanlong Mining.
Sundance chairperson George Jones said on Friday that the signing of the convention was a historic event for Cameroon, Hanlong and Sundance.
Stage 1 of the Mbalam project would focus on a direct shipping ore project with a minimum project life of 10 years producing some 35 million tonne a year of ore, while stage 2 would extend the project life by an additional 15 years and would produce high grade itabirite hematite concentrate.
The project currently has a total hematite resource of 775.4 million tonne grading 57.2% iron. A maiden resource of 1.4 billion tonne of itabirite mineralization at 35% iron has also been defined at the Nabeba deposit, in the Republic of Congo. This was in addition to the 2.3 billion tonnes of itabirite previously announced at the Mbarga deposit in Cameroon.