(Business in Cameroon) - Australian junior mining firm Canyon Resources Ltd recently inked a strategic partnership with MCC-CIE, the mining engineering division of Chinese Minmetals Corporation, for the Minim Martap Bauxite Project.  

Presented as "one of China’s leading engineering, procurement, and construction companies that work extensively with foremost banks in China,"   MCC-CIE "offers the necessary assistance to Canyon in facilitating the off-taking and financing for the project in China."

It will "also provide all necessary support to assist Canyon in technical, business offtaking and financial related issues, etc.,” a release jointly issued on August 26, 2021, by the two partners, informs.  

 “Canyon has worked with MCC-CIE since late 2020 on the BFS [ed. note: bankable feasibility studies]  for the Minim Martap Project and the signing of this Strategic Partnership and MOU is a very positive next step. Executing the MOU with MCC-CIE is a testament to the sound relationship Canyon and MCC-CIE have established in a relatively short space of time, and MCC-CIE will introduce real options for project financing and off-take. It is a great benefit to Canyon to have a Strategic Partner with extensive experience in building and operating mining projects in Africa,” comments Phillip Gallagher, Managing director of Canyon Resources.

According to CAMALCO, a subsidiary of Canyon Resources Ltd, with the Minim-Martap and Ngaoundal deposits, Cameroon could become the largest bauxite producer in the world. 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.”  Comforted by the estimates, Canyon Resources Ltd is already planning to start mining the Minim-Martap and Ngaoundal bauxite in 2022.  

Brice R. Mbodiam