Sinosteel Cam, a subsidiary of Sinosteel Corporation, has signed an agreement for a US$700 million investment in an iron ore project in Cameroon.

The Central African country’s minister of mines, industry and technological development, Gabriel Dodo Ndoke, and Sinosteel Cam general manager Zheng Zhenghao signed the agreement at the Congress hall in the capital Yaounde, according to local press reports.

The integrated mining and infrastructure project will exploit the Lobe iron ore deposit in the South Cameroon region. This includes the development of an iron ore beneficiation plant, a pipeline of about 20 kilometres to transport the beneficiated iron ore to the terminal, an energy production unit of at least 60 megawatts for the project, and a mineral terminal to market the products on the international market.

Sinosteel, which is under China’s State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, is mainly engaged in the development and processing of metallurgical mineral resources, trading and logistics of metallurgical raw materials and products, related engineering technical services, and equipment manufacturing.

The iron ore deposit is estimated at 632.8 million tonnes. Sinosteel Cam plans to extract 10 million tonnes per year for enrichment into high-grade iron concentrates.