On 19 June, a chartered plane with 11 people on board, among them the entire board of Sundance Resources, went missing on a flight between Cameroon and Congo.

“No sweet outcome here... methinks!” was a comment by an old Africa hand at the time. Unfortunately, he was right. The wreckage was found three days later in dense jungle in the Republic of Congo with no survivors.

The flight was carrying nine passengers, predominately from Sundance Resources, who were visiting the company’s Mbalam iron ore project in Cameroon and Congo, and conducting high-level meetings with various government representatives of both countries.

The Sundance Resources’ personnel confirmed as being on the plane included:

• Geoff Wedlock (chair)
• Don Lewis (managing director and chief executive officer)
• John Carr-Gregg (company secretary)
• Ken Talbot (non-executive director)
• John Jones (non-executive director)
• Craig Oliver (non-executive director)
• Jeff Duff (representative of Dynamiq, consultant to Sundance Resources).

Despite company policy not to have all key people on one plane, the decision was made to leave a second plane behind as it could not be landed on one of the air strips. Former chair of Sundance, George Jones, has been appointed by the company and major shareholders to lead an interim advisory group tasked to guide the company and rebuild its board.

On behalf of Inside Mining, I express our sincere condolences to the families of the passengers and to the staff of the companies that have lost colleagues and friends in this tragic crash.

The heart of darkness spreading

Concerns are growing in mining circles over developments in a dispute between the DRC’s government and First Quantum Minerals (FQM) following the cancellation of property rights of Kingamyambo Musonoi Tailings (KMT) last August.

Then earlier this year, the DRC Supreme Court withdrew two more of First Quantum's licences in the country, Frontier and Lonshi, in apparent retaliation for FQM’s commencement of international arbitration with respect to the illegal cancellation of the Kolwezi project and its refusal to resolve the dispute by agreeing to submit to arrangements, with unspecified third parties forced on them by the DRC government.

Now a Canadian paper is linking Dan Gertler, a good buddy of President Joseph Kabila, to the new Kolwezi owner...The bleeding hearts worry about rebel generals fuelling anarchy in the coltan and tin trade. Well look no further than the cabal in Kinshasa if you are looking for the big ‘daddy-o’ of anarchy mate!

Nothing Sacred anymore

What started as a promotional gig by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007 when they minted a once-off CAD$1 million (approximately R7.3 million) face-value coin has since proven to be in demand.

The million-dollar Maple Leaf, which weighs 100 kg and measures 50 cm in diameter, was to go on auction in Austria on 25 June. At the current (mid June) gold price, the coin is worth in the order of US$4.43 million (approximately R32.5 million) by weight alone but was expected to sell for a premium – and I thought coins and such shiny stuff are meant to go in ‘ones pocketses...’

Note: This artilce was originally published in the Inside Mining magazine