Australia’s Sundance Resources is contesting the permit revocation of its Nabeba iron ore project by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
According to media reports, the permit is part of Sundance’s Mbalam-Nabeba project on the DRC-Cameroon border. Although the miner has not begun operations at the site, revocation of the permit prompted the company to seek $8.8bn in damages through an arbitration process, reports indicated on Monday.
The DRC government announced on Dec 17 that it was revoking Sundance’s permit, citing that the miner had insufficiently explored the potential of the deposit and had “prolonged the exploitation” of the resource. Reports noted that the same permit was then granted to a Congolese miner, Sangha Mining Development Sasu.