- West African bauxite miner Canyon Resources (CAY) has bolstered the ore reserve estimate for its flagship Minim Martap Bauxite Project in Cameroon
- The company told shareholders today the upgraded ore reserve is 99.1 million tonnes at 51.6 per cent aluminium oxide and 2.4 per cent silica
- Importantly, this entire reserve falls under the "proved" classification, bolstering Canyon's confidence in the project and de-risking mining costs
- Canyon Director of Projects James Durrant said the new reserve means 97 per cent of the first 20 years of mining will be from proven ore reserves
- Today's ore reserve update comes not long after Canyon upped the mineral resource of the Minim Martap project following grade definition drilling
- Shares in Canyon Resources are trading sideways this afternoon at 14 cents per share
West African bauxite miner Canyon Resources (CAY) has bolstered the ore reserve estimate for its flagship Minim Martap Bauxite Project in Cameroon.
The company told shareholders today the updated ore reserve estimate improves the confidence of the deposit compared to the maiden 20-year ore reserve for the project completed in August 2020.
The new ore reserve is 99.1 million tonnes at 51.6 per cent aluminium oxide and 2.4 per cent silica. Importantly, the entire reserve now falls into the "proved" reserve category for the Minim Martap project.
For reference, while the previous ore reserve from August was similar at 97.3 million tonnes at 51.1 per cent aluminium oxide and 2.3 per cent silica, the whole resource was classified as "probable" in this initial reserve estimate.
As such, today's update increases the Canyon's confidence in the bauxite resources contained within the project.
Canyon Director of Projects James Durrant said the new reserve de-risks the mining element of Minim Martap.
"Being able to formally state that over 97 per cent of the first 20 years of mining will be from proved ore reserves is a real confidence boost for future off-takers, project partners, investors and financiers," James said.
Managing Director Phillip Gallagher said the updated ore reserve shows that the Minim Martap project will consistently produce "some of the highest-quality bauxite in the world for many years".
"Importantly, the reserve only covers the initial mining area within the project and there is some for this to be substantially increased with additional work," Phillip said.
Today's ore reserve update comes not long after Canyon upped the mineral resource of the Minim Martap project following a grade definition drilling effort.
Earlier this month, Canyon brought one third of the total mineral resource for the project into the "measured" category.
