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Cameroon, Republic of Congo Lay Rails For Major Joint Iron Ore Project

CC BY 2.0 / Oscar Rasson / Rail transport in the Republic of the Congo
Rail transport in the Republic of the Congo - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 08.06.2023
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The 510km railway will link mount Nabemba in Congo's north, to the multimodal ore terminal of Kribi, a port located in the southern region of Cameroon, and will enable the implementation of the Mbalam-Nabeba project, which has an estimated 775 million tonnes of iron ore deposits.
Cameroon is set to start building a railway line in August connecting its coast to a major iron ore deposit on the border with the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon's interim Mines Minister Fuh Calistus Gentry said.
According to the minister, plans to construct a railway with a capacity to carry 35 million tonnes of high-grade iron ore per year for a decade demonstrate "the maturity of the two peoples".

"Together we can demonstrate to the world the maturity of our two peoples to ensure that the Cameroon-Congo mining family lives on," he stressed, adding that 12 new mining projects had been discovered in Cameroon, five of which were scheduled to begin this year.

Pierre Oba, Minister of Mines and Geology of the Republic of the Congo, echoed these sentiments on the importance of the project.

"The joint development of the Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore deposits will serve as a model for future sub-regional cooperation and integration in the heart of Africa, the local media quoted the official as saying.

The decision was based on the West African country's agreement with two Chinese-affiliated companies in 2021 to build the railway as part of the Mbalam‐Nabeba project, despite a court challenge by Australia's Sundance Resources, which had previously handled the project.
Australian company Sundance Resources has filed for billions of dollars in damages, saying Cameroon and the Republic of the Congo violated contracts by developing the project with Chinese investors.
The group of investors includes Hong Kong-based Bestway Finance and mining company AustSino Resources Group.
As for the Congolese portion of the project, the Republic of the Congo in 2020 withdrew the license held by Sundance subsidiary Congo Iron in December 2020 and granted it to obscure business Sangha Mining Development Sasu, financed by Bestway Finance.
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