Cameroon Natural Resources: Mbalam Iron Ore Project Estimated At $ US 4.6bn

Yaounde, Cameroon Africa. (Cameroon News) – Sundance Resources have announced that the cost of putting in place the Mbalam iron ore project will be around $US4.6bn and that production will start off in 2014.

SUNDANCE Resources announced today that the first phase of its proposed iron ore project along the borders of Cameroon and the Republic of Congo will cost around $US4.6 billion ($4.45bn) to set up.

The miner said the first output from the project is anticipated to come out of the mine in late 2014.

A definitive feasibility study for the Cameroon stage of the Mbalam project is budgeted to amount to mining costs of $US914 million, railway line construction costs of $US2.02bn, port costs of $US537m and engineering, purchase and setting up costs of $US1.21bn.

However there are some more approvals and sanction from the government as well as financial which are still awaiting approval and once that is done with the construction operations of the mine can be kicked off. Sundance anticipates that the necessary approvals would be obtained in due time and that the construction phase can be started off later this year.

Sundance has also finished a pre-feasibility study for the second phase of the project in the Republic of Congo and proposes to start a definitive feasibility study for the expansion in 2012.

Stage one of the project is expected to yield an average of 35m tonnes a year of direct shipping ore for a forecasted cash operating costs, minus royalties, of $US21.20/t.

The company is in the process of talks with a lot of strategic partners and the project is going at the expected rate towards completion during the first half of this year, Sundance said.

Sundance shares have increased by 3.1 per cent at 50 cents today, taking the market value of the company to $1.4bn.