The high-grade inferred resource now weighs in at 250.9Mt at 50.8% aluminium oxide and 1.9% silicon dioxide within the existing wider 550Mt resource.

 

The company says more than half the area drilled for the bulk resource at Minim Martap is over 50% Al2O3 with estimated reactive silica of 1.3%.

 

The Perth-based company asked SRK Consulting to review past drilling results with the aim of defining the highest grade areas on the 11 plateaux that comprise the Minim Martap licence using core from the project's previous owners.

 

Happily, the results, areas with less than 4% silica and more than 48% total alumina, are consistent with Canyon's interpretation of the area's geology. 

 

Canyon chief geologist Alexander Shaw said the mix of high-grade, very low levels of contaminants and significant tonnes made the project a "true global tier one bauxite resource".

 

It means Canyon could develop a direct shipping ore mining operation to get its Cameroonian dream off the ground, a first step in a plan to develop a 10Mtpa operation from the early 2020s. 

 

The project remains undeveloped because of a previous government requirement to construct a refinery in the country but, as that has been removed, development of the two deposits at Minim Martip requires construction of around 130km of railway to link up with an existing train line that connects to the coast, and there potential markets such as China.

 

Development estimates for the project range between US$200 million and $1 billion.

 

Canyon is continuing its high-grade exploration drilling program at Minim Martap, with 157 holes for 1556m recently drilled and samples being assayed in Ireland. 

 

Drilling is continuing on the high-grade bauxite plateaux, and the company is planning to extend its work into previously undrilled bauxite plateaux on the Minim Martap and Makan permits where the company's geological model predicts more high-grade bauxite zones. 

 

The company is also continuing to finalise the acquisition of the Birsok project from Altus Strategies, however all the conditions precedent are yet to be met, and shareholder approval for the issue of the first tranche of up to 30 million shares has lapsed and a new meeting will need to be convened.  

 

Shares in the junior closed yesterday at A23.5c, capitalising the company at some $98 million. The company has been a volatile stock, trading at 8-31.5c over the past year. 

 

It had $5.4 million remaining in cash at the start of the year.