Mbalam-Nabeba Iron Ore: Arbitral Tribunal Orders Cameroon to Pay Over $600 Million to Sundance Resources

The mining dispute over the Mbalam-Nabeba iron ore deposit, straddling the Cameroon-Congo border, has taken a new turn after more than a decade of legal battle between Yaoundé and Australian junior miner Sundance Resources, whose mining permits were revoked around 2012. According to a press release published on July 24, 2026 by Burford Capital Limited, an international litigation finance and asset management firm, an arbitral tribunal of the International Court of Arbitration of the ICC in Paris ordered the Cameroonian state to pay nearly 350 billion FCFA, or more than $600 million USD, to Sundance Resources. The information, relayed by Financial Afrik on July 27, comes exclusively from Burford, which financed the proceedings and thus directly benefits from this victory. For Cameroon, already under IMF scrutiny over its public debt, such a ruling would weigh heavily on state finances and send a negative signal to mining investors in the subregion. This case illustrates the growing role of litigation finance funds in state-investor disputes in Central Africa: since Burford has a direct financial interest in publicizing this ruling, official confirmation from Yaoundé or the ICC remains necessary before the amounts can be definitively validated.