The missing aircraft was found yesterday by a helicopter operating as part of the air and ground search on the western ridge of the Avima Range at 3pm local time (midnight AEST).
Sundance said in a statement that a team of 10 French military personnel, including a medical detail, were deployed to the remote crash site; however the company was informed at 4:45pm local time (1:45am AEST) that there were no survivors.
Nine passengers, predominantly Sundance board members, were on the flight to the company’s flagship Mbalam iron ore project in Cameroon and the Congo.
The plane went missing over dense jungle on Saturday during a flight from Cameroon’s capital Yaounde to Yangadou in the Congo.
The company will resume the recovery operation at first light. Given its remoteness, Australian mine contractors located in the vicinity will begin clearing access tracks to the crash site.
Sundance said it was working closely with relevant consulates and high commissions regarding bringing home the bodies.
“Providing support to the families of all personnel on board remains the company’s key focus along with the prompt recovery and repatriation of the deceased,” Sundance said.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told ABC Radio’ AM program that the repatriation of the deceased would not be an easy process.
"Disaster victim identification is always lengthy, time-consuming and difficult," he said.
"Regrettably now we have to brace ourselves for a long and painstaking process. It'll take longer than the families would wish to repatriate the bodies."
In an interview on ABC Radio, Cameroon Communications Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary said the retrieval process would be complicated by the fact that the wreckage took place in the Republic of Congo.
“[It is] a very long walk to retrieve the bodies, to secure the bodies,” he said.
“As you know, two countries are involved …Cameroon and Congo, and there is a diplomatic process.
“We have to get in touch with the leaders of Congo, they are the ones who will retrieve the bodies, get them ready to be flown to Cameroon.
“So we need some few days to get the process through before taking them back to Cameroon.”
Those confirmed onboard the flight were Sundance chairman Geoff Wedlock, who is also chairman and director of Gindalbie Metals, Gladiator Resources and Jupiter Mines, and managing director and chief executive officer Don Lewis.
Macarthur Coal founder and Sundance non-executive director Talbot was also confirmed on the flight. His investment company, Talbot Group, is Sundance's largest shareholder with a 16% ownership stake.
Among the others confirmed on the flight were non-executive directors Craig Oliver, who is also finance director at Western Areas, John Jones, who is a former general manager of HWE Mining, company secretary John Carr-Gregg and Jeff Duff of risk management consultancy company Dynamiq which advised Sundance.
Talbot's executive secretary Natasha Flason, a French national, was also on board as well as a British citizen and the two pilots.
Sundance will provide updates on recovery and repatriation of the deceased once the information comes to hand.
The company’s shares remain in a trading halt.
