Sundance Resources Limited is an Australian mining company, based in

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, whose main assets are iron ore leases in

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

near Mbalam, and across the border in the Republic of Congo. Following the loss of the Congo mining licence in 2020, Sundance Resources delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange and sued Congo to acquire $8.76 billion in compensation. To exploit these leases, a 500 km railway (or perhaps a

slurry pipeline A slurry pipeline is a specially engineered pipeline used to move ores, such as coal or iron, or mining waste, called tailings, over long distances. A mixture of the ore concentrate and water, called slurry, is pumped to its destination and the w ...

) is required to a new multi-user port at

Lolabé Lolabé is a small coastal town in Cameroon. It lies on the Atlantic Ocean, about halfway between Kribi and the border with Equatorial Guinea. Port The town has been chosen as the site for a port serving an iron ore railway (or slurry pipeli ...

on the Atlantic coast. However, the development of the project has been postponed due to the market conditions for ore. The company made headlines in June 2010 when all of the company's directors and some other officers were killed in an

airplane crash An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place from the time any person boards the aircraft with the ''intention of fl ...

in the Republic of Congo.Missing Aircraft Update
Sundance ASX announcement, published: 21 June 2010, accessed: 24 June 2010No survivors in plane crash: Sundance Resources
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The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'', published: 22 June 2010, accessed: 24 June 2010

Company history

Sundance Resources was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, the ASX, in 1993, then under the name of St Francis Mining NL (SFM). It changed this name to St Francis Mining Limited in October 1999. It traded under this name for only a short time before becoming the St Francis Group Limited (SFG) in June 2000. In December 2003, the St Francis Group Limited became Sundance Resources Limited (SDL), the company's current name. The company was listed on the ASX and also traded on over-the-counter markets in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and Stuttgart, Germany.

Mbalam project

Sundance announced the acquisition of a 100% interest, since reduced to 90%, in Cam Iron SA, a company incorporated in Cameroon, in March 2006. Cam was the owner of exploration permit No 92 which covered an area of 875 square kilometres over the Mbalam iron ore province. Mbalam is located about 300 km east-southeast of the capital city of

Yaoundé Yaoundé (; , ) is the capital of Cameroon and, with a population of more than 2.8 million, the second-largest city in the country after the port city Douala. It lies in the Centre Region of the nation at an elevation of about 750 metres (2,50 ...

in the southern part of Cameroon. The deposit was identified in 1982 by the United Nations Development Fund.

Republic of Congo

Sundance also holds an 85% interest in iron ore deposits across the border in the Republic of Congo, which would be served by a branch off the main railway.

Timeline

;2010 * In September a deal was reached to build the railway. ;2011 * A deal was struck with Legend Resources, also of Australia, to share railway and port infrastructure. ;2016 * January – the development of the project was put on hold until market conditions improve, after a key infrastructure contractor postponed the signing of a contract, citing low ore prices.

Accident

On 19 June 2010, an airplane crash in the Republic of Congo killed many of the company's executives including the entire board of directors, consisting of the following people: * Geoff Wedlock, ''Non Executive Chairman'' * Don Lewis, ''Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer'' *

Ken Talbot Ken Talbot (26 August 1950 – 19 June 2010) was an Australian mining executive, he was the principal shareholder and former CEO of the Macarthur Coal Ltd mining company. He was the only child of Norman and Nita Talbot (née McIntyre). Talbot te ...

, ''Non Executive Director'' * Craig Oliver, ''Non Executive Director'' * John Carr-Gregg, ''Company Secretary / General Manager Corporate Services'' * John Jones, ''Non Executive Director'' Additionally, a further five people were killed in the accident: two pilots, a consultant for Sundance and a British and a French citizen. The company halted its African operations and ordered staff to help find the plane. Trading of its shares was also halted and Peter Canterbury was named acting chief executive. Former chairman George Jones said that the disappearance of the entire board would not spell the end for the company.

Aftermath

Strictly speaking, if there are no surviving board members, then there is no-one to appoint new members to a new board. However, ASIC, the corporate regulator, has approved the co-option of a former chairman to co-opt other members to a new board, which will be put before a shareholder's meeting at the earliest practical opportunity.

Hanlong takeover attempt

In October 2011, the Chinese Hanlong Group launched a takeover attempt for Sundance. Although an agreement was reached to purchase the company, the deal fell through in April 2013 when Hanlong was unable to meet its funding obligations.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.sundanceresources.com.au/ Mining companies of Australia Iron ore mining companies of Australia Companies based in Perth, Western Australia Companies formerly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Mining companies of the Republic of the Congo Mining companies of Cameroon