The long-running dispute between Cameroon and Australian junior miner Sundance Resources over the Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore project has been pushed back again, with a final ruling now expected at the end of 2026.
Initially anticipated in late 2025 and then in March 2026, the decision from the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris has been delayed following the addition of new elements to the case by the Cameroonian side, according to sources familiar with the matter. The ICC has been handling the dispute since 2021.
Sundance accuses Cameroon and the Republic of Congo of stripping it of control over the project and handing it to Chinese partners. In its 2022 filing, the company is seeking CFA3,401.6 billion—about $5.5 billion at the time—in damages from Cameroon.
That claim is 36 times higher than the CFA94 billion that Cameroon’s former mines minister, the late Gabriel Dodo Ndocké, estimated Sundance had actually spent during the exploration phase. He had argued that repaying that amount could settle the dispute, but the presidency rejected that option, opting instead to let the arbitration process continue.
A partial setback for Sundance came in January 2026, when the ICC dismissed its separate case against the Republic of Congo. That outcome is widely seen as strengthening Cameroon’s position.
The dispute stems from Sundance’s inability to move the Mbalam project into production, despite several extensions of its exploration license. The company struggled to secure the technical and financial partners needed to deliver key infrastructure, including a more than 500-kilometer railway from Mbalam to Kribi, the development of the mine itself, and a mineral terminal at the deepwater port of Kribi.
Talks with China Gezhouba in 2015, Tidfore Heavy Equipment Group in 2018, and later AustSino all failed to produce a workable agreement.
Against that backdrop, Cameroon turned in 2021 to AustSino Resources Group and Bestway Finance to revive the project—a move Sundance is now challenging. After talks with the Australian firm collapsed, AustSino signed a direct agreement with the Cameroonian government on June 25, 2021, covering the railway component.
Since August 17, 2022, Cameroon Mining Company (CMC), linked to Bestway Finance, has held the mining permit for the Mbalam-Nabeba deposit on the Cameroonian side. In Congo, the project is now controlled by Sangha Mining, another Bestway affiliate.
The Mbalam-Nabeba project is designed to be developed in two phases across deposits in both countries. Sundance had planned to produce 40 million tons of direct shipping ore annually over an initial 12-year period, followed by a second phase extending the mine’s life by more than 15 years through the production of high-grade itabirite concentrate.
BRM
