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发帖数: 1 | 4 The end came as a bitter finale to a decades-long tale of intrigue and
tragedy.
High up in the mountains straddling the border between Cameroon and the
Republic of Congo, Perth-based mining minnow Sundance Resources saw its
future extinguished amidst accusations of deceit and corruption.
After more than six months of wrangling and threats of legal action with the
Congo government, Sundance boss Giulio Casello discovered to his horror
that his former partner, an Australian-domiciled company with Chinese
government links, had snared his company's major asset.
Working in tandem with another Beijing-linked group, it had snared the
rights to develop one of west Africa's most promising iron ore deposits, the
Mbalam-Nabeba project which has been Sundance's main focus for more than 15
years.
"The government of Cameroon has refused to effect our mining licence and now
appears to be working with the government of Congo to strip us of our
rights to the Mbalam-Nabeba project and grant them to Chinese partners who
have done nothing and spent nothing in either country," an incensed Mr
Casello thundered.
That's not entirely correct. While those particular companies may not have
outlaid any capital in the two West African nations, Beijing long has had an
eye on the resource-rich but impoverished countries that dot the Atlantic
coast.
And while Sundance has a chequered history in the region — having faced
Australian Federal Police investigations over allegations it bribed the
Congo President and the current Mines Minister – it is not the only
Australian company to suddenly be stripped of its mining rights in the Congo
. |
