(Business in Cameroon) - Yesterday October 27, 2021, Canyon Resources Ltd, the Australian Junior mining firm controlling Camalco (owner of three permits on the Minim Martap and Ngaoundal deposits in Adamaoua) announced the reception of formal notifications from the Cameroonian Ministry of Mines for the launch of negotiations for a mining agreement on the Minim Martap project. 

The said document will outline the conditions (taxation, job creation, state participation, environment protection) for collaborations between Canyon Resources Ltd and the Cameroonian government for the exploitation of the Minim Martap bauxite.

According to the release issued by Canyon Resources, the negotiations are expected to end in December 2021. “The commencement and finalization of negotiations for the Mining Convention is an important pre-construction milestone for the Minim Martap Project. This is the culmination of the last 3 years' work since being granted the Project,”  commented Phillip Gallagher, Managing Director of  Canyon Resources.

This new development in the Minim Martap project occurs just weeks after the revelation (in late August 2021) of a strategic partnership between Canyon Resources and Chinese operator MCC-CIE, the mining engineering division of Chinese Minmetals Corporation. For Canyon Resources, the partnership will facilitate financing and off-taking for the project, therefore, making Cameroon the largest bauxite deposit worldwide. 

Recent estimates on the 16 out of the 79 bauxite-bearing plateaux brought the potential to 892 million tons, including 250 million tons of high-grade bauxite, ideal for aluminum production.

For James Durrant, head of the Minim-Martap and Ngaoundal bauxite exploration project at Canyon Resources, an analysis of the remaining 63 plateaux should bring the deposit's potential to about 2 billion tons. Therefore, the Minim Martap Project could be “the largest deposits in the world, both in quantity and quality.”  

BRM