China's Hanlong clears Cameroon hurdle to $1.3 bln iron ore bid

MELBOURNE, June 5 (Reuters) - China's Hanlong Mining has cleared one of three key hurdles to its long-delayed $1.3 billion takeover of Australia's Sundance Resources, agreeing on key terms with Cameroon for developing the Mbalam iron ore project.

To go ahead with the Sundance bid, Hanlong also needs to secure approval from Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board by June 30, and line up funding from China Development Bank by August 31, which is seen as the biggest challenge.

Hanlong is targeting Sundance for its $4.7 billion Mbalam iron ore project on the border of Congo and Cameroon, a resource vital to helping China ease its dependence on Australia and Brazil for iron ore.

Despite China's desire tap new sources of iron ore in Africa, China Development Bank has so far failed to give its blessing to Hanlong's A$1.34 billion ($1.3 billion) bid, first announced last July.

Read the full original article