Name of the Project
Minim Martap bauxite project.

Location
Commune of Martap, Adamawa region, central Cameroon. 

Project Owner/s
Canyon Resources, through its 100%-owned in-country subsidiary Camalco SA. Under Cameroon’s Mining Code, a State entity is to be granted a 10% free-carried interest in the special-purpose joint venture company formed for the mining permit area. 

Project Description
Minim Martap ranks among the world’s richest bauxite deposits, with an ore reserve of 144-million tonnes at 51.2% aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃) and 1.7% silica (SiO₂) and a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant mineral resource of 1.102-billion tonnes at 45.3% Al₂O₃.

The project will produce high-grade bauxite and low reactive SiO₂ suitable for low- and high-temperature alumina refinery technologies. The September 2025 definitive feasibility study confirmed a capital-efficient, staged direct shipping ore (DSO) development. 

Production is planned in stages of 1.2-million tonnes a year, 6.5-million tonnes a year and 10-million tonnes a year. The initial mine plan extends over 20 years and uses only about 13.1% of the current mineral resource, leaving significant scope for future expansion.

Mining will be undertaken using a surface miner, which crushes the ore to the required size as part of the mining process, enabling the ore to be exported as DSO without further beneficiation. 

Development includes mine and mine-site infrastructure, a haul road, an inland rail facility, railway rolling stock and port-related infrastructure to support the mine-to-port logistics chain. 

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The definitive feasibility study indicates a pretax net present value of $835-million and an internal rate of return of 29%.

Capital Expenditure
Total capital expenditure is estimated at $446-million. 

Planned Start/End Date
Canyon is targeting first bauxite production early in the second quarter of 2026 and first ore shipment in the third quarter of 2026. 

Latest Developments
Canyon announced on March 10, 2026, that the surface miner had been mobilised to site and that mining operations were scheduled to start before the end of March. 

Canyon further stated that Stage 1 of the development remained fully funded through the undrawn portion of its $140-million credit facility with AFG Bank Cameroon and its existing cash position, despite shareholders not approving Tranche 2 of the March 2026 placement. Updated cashflow modelling indicated that this funding was sufficient to cover capex until first shipment. 

The March update also noted that discussions with locomotive fabricator CRRC Ziyang were continuing, with first locomotives expected to arrive at the Port of Douala in the second quarter of 2026, supporting ore transport from the inland rail facility to port ahead of the first shipment planned for the first quarter of 2026. 

Earlier, in February 2026, Canyon advised that the maiden bauxite trial shipment had been rescheduled to the third quarter of 2026, with full-scale bauxite shipments expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2026, following revised locomotive and wagon delivery timelines. 

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
SRK Consulting  (resource and reserve estimation and DFS inputs); Bhygraph Engineering (design of hall road); MR Technofin Consultants (inland rail facility, or IRF. Design); SYSTRA (rail capacity studies); Grafix Engineering Consultant (port studies and design); Geostratum (hydrogeology study); CM Group.Net (bauxite marketing studies); Golder Associates-Africa, Rainbow Environment Consultant and ESS-Senegal (environmental- and social-impact assessment, or ESIA); Andal & Synergy Engineering (ESIA update IRF and road); Glonar (ESIA update – port); CRRC Ziyang Co (locomotive fabrication); AFG Bank Cameroon (debt funding).

Contact Details for Project Information
Canyon Resources, tel +61 8 6385 2263 or email info@canyonresources.com.au