Shares in Bellzone Mining have been suspended as the latest twist in Chinese companies’ quest to secure natural resources in Africa played out on London’s junior market.

The Aim-quoted miner requested the suspension yesterday amid a dispute over the terms of a $4m four-month loan it obtained in August to help keep it afloat. Bellzone has drawn $1.5m of the loan but was unable to reach agreement with China Sonangol, its creditor and 30 per cent shareholder, on “the final satisfaction of all conditions of the loan agreement”, the company said.

If Bellzone defaults, China Sonangol has the right to claim the London-listed company’s potentially lucrative iron ore prospects in Guinea. The heart of an eclectic conglomerate that stretches from Angolan crude to Manhattan real estate, China Sonangol is jointly owned by Sonangol, Angola’s national oil company, and a group of investors known informally as the “Queensway Group” after the Hong Kong address to which many of the companies in its sprawling corporate network are registered.