Sundance Resources chairman George Jones says he is looking to drum up interest in China and from ­traditional Western investors to finance the infrastructure for its flagship $US4.6 billion ($4.9 billion) iron ore project in central Africa, after being “very disappointed" by the lack of appetite from Australian quarters.

On Friday, Perth junior Sundance struck a long-awaited deal with a ­Portuguese firm for the construction of $US3.5 billion in port and rail ­underpinning its Mbalam-Nabeba project, which straddles Cameroon and the Congo. But the financing for the infrastructure, and another $US1.1 billion to bankroll the iron ore project, are still up in the air.