Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Canyon Resources Limited Investor Webinar. All participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, you'll need to press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Peter Secca, Canyon Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Darcy. Good morning, everyone, or maybe good afternoon, depending on where you are. I'd like to thank everybody for dialing in today to this webinar. We have a two-fold process. One is to introduce the project for those of you who don't know it and to give you an update on the project development schedule. Secondly, to just give you a quick update on the release this morning, which was on the feasibility study that we've been working on for the last nine months. Obviously, very much focused on our flagship project, which is the Minim Martap Bauxite Project in Cameroon. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Peter Secca. I'm a mining engineer. I've been in the industry for 40 years, all that time in project development, building mines in various locations, including Australia, Africa, China, Mexico, and Canada.
I've been working now with Canyon Resources Limited since the end of last year and was appointed as CEO on the 1st of July this year. When JS stepped down and became a marketing focus role, I've taken over more of that project development and corporate role. Obviously, very much focused on Cameroon, very much focused on the bauxite market. As you will have seen over the last 12 months, we've made significant steps in progressing Minim Martap towards production. As we go through the slides today, I'll give you the highlights of the last 12 months, what's going to happen in the next 12 months, and those key outcomes from the feasibility study. I'm going to talk for probably 15 or 20 minutes, and if you want to ask questions at the end of that, we'll open the lines up for questions. I'll tackle this as read.
I'm sure you've read that really quickly. If you focus initially on that map on the right-hand side, this is a Cameroon-focused project. The initial startup area that we're looking at is this Minim Martap area. The orange line shows you the rail line that links the main port of Douala with that northern capital of Ngaoundéré. That's about 800 kilometers of rail line. That really is the key piece of infrastructure that allows us to develop the project relatively quickly. Within the project focus, we have three areas that we're working on. There's that Minim Martap area to the north with those three main ridges that we're going to be mining. Just south of that is Makahe. Right next to the rail line, further south, is Ngandae. The reason that we're starting to that northern area, that Minim Martap area, is the grade. The grade is significant.
This is a world-class project. This is a project that has over 1.1 billion tons of resource. That initial mining area, that Minim Martap area, has a grade of over 51% bauxite and less than 2% #Silica. That really does put us in a world-class situation where we have a significant size resource and we have quite a spectacular grade in the bauxite industry. The plan is to start at Makahe and Ngandae. It's about a 40-kilometer truck to that rail line, the existing rail line to the port. We have access to a port area at Douala that allows us to load offshore cargos. All of the infrastructure is in place.
All we are really now focusing on is that development schedule and very much looking at being in operations first quarter next year, mining operations, and making a first shipment of bauxite in the second quarter of next year. In terms of the feasibility study, we're very happy with the outcome of this. This is showing a net present value of over $830 million U.S. dollars at a rate of return of 29%. Significantly focusing us on the economics of the project, this means that we do have quite a spectacular project moving forwards. Of course, that existing infrastructure, that 800-kilometer rail line, the port facility in Douala means that we can fast-track this and be in production within the next nine months. The one thing that the feasibility has shown is that we can bring this into production for quite a moderate capital cost.
We're showing a CapEx of less than $100 million. Significantly, we already have a debt facility in place for $140 million U.S. dollars. We have sufficient funds and funding capacity to bring this into production next year. The nice thing about the bauxite market you will have seen over the last 12 months is there continues to be significant growth. Significant pricing increases last year. There was unrest obviously in Guinea. That spooked the market and prices hit over $100 a ton. Currently, Guinea bauxite trading somewhere between $72 and $75 a ton. Because of our significant grade, because of that 51% #Alumina and also because of very low #Silica, less than 2%, we get quite a significant premium over that Guinea bauxite price. If we were selling at the moment, we will be selling for that $74, $75 plus a premium of $11, $12.
We'd be getting close to $85 U.S. dollars a ton for our product. As I say, moving forward very swiftly towards mining operations in Q1 next year and then a shipment in Q2 next year. It has been quite a rapid advance over the last 12 months, and I thought it would be worth just going through what the company has achieved. Obviously, middle of last year, the mining convention was granted, but more significantly, the mining license was granted in September last year, just under 12 months ago. On the back of that, we launched quite a significant drilling program, which has obviously led to this feasibility update. Also last year, the World Bank confirmed their commitment to fund almost $820 million U.S. dollars of financing to upgrade the rail. There is that existing rail capacity. At the moment, it's constrained.
Over the next three, four years, that rail will be upgraded. We're looking to start a project that's reasonably modest at 1- 2 million tons a year. Over that upgrade period, moving from that 1- 2 million tons up to 10 million tons a year and potentially more. We're currently doing studies that show we can move above that 10 million and head towards the 14, 15 million tons a year. 2024 was quite a milestone year for the company. 2025 has been obviously project implementation and project development. We got access to our own railhead on the rail line in February. Work on that IRF has now commenced. We purchased just over 9% of CamRail. CamRail is the rail operator in Cameroon. It is the group that will be allowing us to operate on the rail, but also undertaking that upgrade using the World Bank funds.
The rationale behind that was we want to be more of a stakeholder in CamRail and put some direction into that rail upgrade. Access to the port was obtained in May, so we now have Port du Point, which means we have stockpile capacity at the port and also obviously loading capacity. In May, we also signed a debt facility with AFG that gave us access to $140 million U.S. dollars. We've already drawn down the first $25 million, so that debt facility is now active. In June, Eagle Eye, which is our largest shareholder, exercised 350 million options to put some equity into the Canyon Bank account and increased their shareholding to 56.5%. They are a significant holder and also a significant help for us in Cameroon where they have very strong relationships with the government and obviously strong infrastructure at both port and rail level.
In June, we led all of the major contracts to enable us to commence work Q1 next year. That involved a mining contract. This is a mining contractor who has expertise internationally, but more specifically in Guinea. They'll be mobilizing into this year, and we will start mining early next year. Road upgrade, there is that existing road from the mine to the railhead. We are upgrading that. At the moment, it's about 7- 9 meters wide. We're upgrading it to 11 meters wide and putting a new surface on that road. We also let the road haulage contract. The movement of ore from the mine to the rail will be done by contractors. Most significantly, we ordered locomotives from China, from CRRC. While CamRail is the owner and operator of the rail line, we will own our own locos and wagons.
We will operate our own locos and wagons, and over the next 12 months, we'll be starting to train our own operators, but in the early stages, we'll be using loco operators from CamRail. With the government, we held a groundbreaking ceremony in July and that first drawdown of debt from AFG in August. The feasibility came out this morning. Over the next few months, you'll see the mobilization of the mining contractor. You'll see the mining permits for Makahe and Ngandae, those two southern areas, issued. We continue to have discussions with a number of off-takers in various parts of the world. More importantly, in 2026, locos will arrive in country. They'll clear port and will be commissioned. We'll have first mine production coming out January, February. We hope to make that first rail haulage in March, April, and looking to make that first shipment in Q2 2026.
On top of that, we're also undertaking an #Alumina plant feasibility study. That's part of our mining license conditions, and that will be completed towards the end of 2026. These are the outcomes from the feasibility. Just to summarize where we're at, stage one CapEx, as I say, less than $100 million, sitting at $96 million. C1, life of mine average costs, just under $35 per ton. Pre-tax NPV, $835 million, and IRR, 29%. We always talk about the resource at the project, which is over 1.1 billion tonnes, but for these first stages of mining, for this direct shipping ore, we're really just focusing on Minim Martap. The reserve that's shown in the feasibility of 144 million tonnes only applies to Minim Martap. It does not apply to Makahe and Ngandae.
Over the next 6- 12 months, you will see some work on those new reserves and obviously a development schedule past the current 20-year mine life. We continue to stress this high-grade product. It is fairly special at 51% #Alumina and less than 2% #Silica. Obviously, depending on the Guinea basis price, we will get a premium of anywhere from $10- $15 a tonne because of that 51 and 2. Because of the work that's ongoing on the rail line upgrade, that World Bank-funded upgrade, we will stage the production. That's allowed us to, I guess, optimize the capital spend. We're looking at in 2026, just over a million tonnes of production, moving up to 2 million tonnes, 2.2 million tonnes in 2027, and then slowly building up through 5.5, 6.5 to 10 million tonnes by 2031, 2032. This is our base case.
We believe that we can optimize this. We believe it will happen faster than the schedule, but we have been slightly conservative in what we've put into the feasibility. At that 10 million tonnes a year, and at the long-term pricing that we've been given by our consultants, we will have about $174 million of free cash flow a year. Obviously, there is still significant upsize on that resource of that 1.1 billion tonnes, and there's also significant upsize on the reserves as we bring in Makahe and Ngandae. Initial 20-year mine life, but obviously, it will be significantly more. That's what it looks like. That is the Danielle Plateau. It is truly spectacular. If you stand at the southern end and just look along the top of that plateau, it stretches for about 16 kilometers.
That is just one of the three in Minim Martap and obviously significantly more in the other two licenses. It is an amazing project. We are just taking the top off of those ridges, the first 20 meters. Total resource, over 1.1 billion of that, over 80% is in the measured and indicated category. That's what we've used for the project. In terms of the reserves, over 90% of the reserves in that approved category and less than 10% in the probable. There is a high degree of detail that has gone into this study. Obviously, the drilling program at the end of last year has delineated both additional resources and additional reserves. This is really just to explain how relatively simple, and there is no simple mining project, but this is a relatively simple mining project with an infrastructure tail to get to a port.
We do have those series of mesa-style mineralizations. Because we're just taking the top off the ridges, we're just taking that first 15- 20 meters. We do have a very low stripping ratio. For the first few years, it's zero. For the life of the project, that 20 years, it's less than 0.3 tonnes of waste to 1 tonne of ore. It is a low stripping ratio project. Because we're just taking the top and because we're proceeding along the line of the ridge, we will rehabilitate behind us as we go. Once we're into 18 months of operations, we'll start to rehabilitate behind us. We're very much focused on the DSO portion of the ore body, this 51% and 2%.
Currently looking at getting up to 10 million tonnes, but we believe that we can get higher than that and currently looking at a situation where we could be at 14 or 15 million tonnes. It is very similar to the mining projects in Guinea. These are surface mining mechanized operations. The contract miner will be bringing down the first surface miner end of this year and then the second one towards the end of next year. There is no drill and blast. It is purely surface miners. Luckily, we have no community relocation within the licensed areas. We don't have to move people. We don't have to move buildings. The nearest two towns to us are Minim Martap. Between them, probably two and a half thousand people. The majority of our workforce will come from these areas.
Both our workforce on site and also obviously the contractors, be they mining contractors or road haulage contractors, will source from the local community. Mining contractor on site end of this year, mining early next year. We will have a stockpile on site. We will also have a stockpile at the railhead, and we will have a third stockpile at the port. To get from Minim Martap to the railhead, approximately 42 kilometers, there is an existing road. It's used all year round. Currently, 7- 9 meters wide. We're increasing that to 11. The main diversions we're doing are around the two villages that occur along the route to avoid contact with the local community and obviously to improve our safety. We'll be running 60-tonne road trains and, again, starting mining early next year and then first shipments to the railhead in that February-March period 2026.
On the rail side of things, we have that existing rail line. We do have to supply our own locos and wagons. We have placed orders for the first seven locos and the first 50 wagons that will allow us to get into production Q1, Q2 next year. Those locos will ship at the end of this year and be in country January-February 2026. CRRC out of China are supplying the locos. They're also doing a five-year service contract, so they will maintain the locomotives for the first five years while we train, again, our own people. CamRail initially will provide locomotive drivers as, again, we train our own people. We have that 9.1% investment in CamRail. We are in discussions to increase this. We would like to have more equity in CamRail and be more focused on that rail upgrade and the commitment of those World Bank funds.
Once we get to the port, it is an existing port. It does have rail access. We're currently upgrading the stockpile capacity to just over 150 million tonnes. Once in production, we'll be loading 8,000- 10,000-tonne barges and transshipping offshore and looking to move cape-sized vessels probably into the Middle East or Asia. It is quite an infrastructure project. If I'm going to be brave, I will say that the mining and the road are the lower-risk areas. Obviously, as we get to know more about the rail and that rail upgrade commences over the next few years, that really is our focus. The quicker we can get to 10 million tonnes and higher obviously improves the project economics significantly. This is just a schematic of how the build-up looks and what the cash flow looks like.
Obviously, starting in 2026, at that 1.2 million tonnes, building up for a couple of years at 2 million tonnes, and then 5.5, 6.5, and moving to 10, and then potentially to higher tonnages post that. I'll just repeat some of the numbers: CapEx less than $100 million, debt facility in place, IRR of 29%, NPV $835 million, and at full capacity, full production, we're looking at over $170 million US of free cash coming out of the project. That's based on the long-term pricing for Minim Martap at $78 a tonne. Currently, Guinea bauxite is selling for around $74. We would get that premium. If we were selling at the moment, we'd be getting over $85 per tonne.
In terms of how the breakdown of costs looks, the mining and haulage are around $8 per tonne, rail to the port just over $16, and then stockpiling, loading, and transshipping at around $10 to give that $35 per tonne. Project schedule, we've gone through it, so I'm not going to dwell on this, but it really is getting the mining contractor site end of this year. First mining production, early Q1, road haulage to the rail again mid-Q1, and then getting product to the port in that April-May period and making that first shipment. A little bit about the pricing. If you look at the graph on the left, you can just see how the price has appreciated over the last five years.
The little spike at the end of last year, a combination of effects, but obviously, 10 million tonnes of production being taken out of Guinea with GAC's discussions with the government. When we talk about Guinea, the chart on the right just shows you how the world relies upon Guinea as the primary source of seaborne bauxite. You have that base load coming out of Australia, the blue segment, but that yellow segment, at the moment, somewhere between 140 and 160 million tonnes a year out of Guinea, really does demonstrate that the world does need an alternative source and a viable and high-grade source outside of Guinea. Obviously, that's what we offer as we bring Minim Martap into production. As we come to the end of this, just a bit about us. We have 1.78 billion shares on issue, current market cap just over 470 million Aussie.
There's still 137 million options outstanding held by Eagle Eye, and we believe they will exercise those in the coming 12 months. Currently, we have $51 million Australian dollars in the bank. That includes that drawdown, that debt drawdown from AFG. If you look at the shareholding, Eagle Eye sits as our largest shareholder, just over 56%. Canyon, as the public company, holding 100% of Camalco, which is the in-country subsidiary. That's the operating entity in Cameroon. For Minim Martap, we have a joint venture with the Cameroonian government, 90% past 10% the government. We have another subsidiary that is doing the #Alumina refinery feasibility that will be completed towards the end of next year. I've run over a little bit. I apologize. Happy to answer questions, and I'll open the floor up to questions.
Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you would like to cancel your request, please press star two. If you are on a speaker phone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question today comes from Jackie Hoff from Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.
My wife logged on on that one, Peter, but thank you very much for taking the question. I was just wondering for off-take.
Thanks, Jackie.
I was just wondering in terms of off-take discussions, where are you up to there? And then that $11 a tonne premium, I guess, what engagement have you had with that around maybe some of that off-take discussion?
We're in discussions, I would say, with six off-takers, and that encompasses Asia, the Middle East, and North America. I guess we're at a stage where we would like to have something draft towards the end of this year and enter into something formal Q1 or Q2 next year. The nice thing about the debt with AFG is they are very happy with the bauxite market. They have not asked us to enter into an off-take agreement in terms of the debt facility, which is very kind of them. We haven't been pushed into doing something quickly.
I think we're looking for a long-term partnership with an off-taker, not just some kind of off-take agreement. If you can give us another six months to finalize the discussions we're in, I think we'd be looking at putting somewhere between 70% and 80% under contract, selling the rest spot. My preference would be not to do that until we've made that first shipment, until we've demonstrated the 51% and 2% and just shown the market how spectacular these grades are.
I guess the grades will certainly drive those premiums, and hopefully, we can squeeze them even higher.
Perhaps for the three plateaus that you've got planned, what are the mine life extensions beyond that? I mean, are we starting to think about this project beyond 20 years?
Twenty years really is just an engineering number. I guess a pretty standard mine life for a feasibility study. If you look at the resource and if you look at that general conversion, and these are just generic numbers where 60% of a resource would get converted into reserves, then I'd say that we have a reserve potential of 500, 600 million tonnes. Once you start talking about 15 million tonnes a year, we're talking a 50, 60, 70-year mine life. Obviously, very much focused on the 51% material. Once we start talking about Makahe and Ngandae, we'll start looking at how we optimize the production and maximize the returns. You'll start to see, I think, before the end of that 20 years, some blending coming in from Makahe and Ngandae. The nice thing about Ngandae is it sits right on the rail line.
You don't have that 40-kilometer haul to the rail. Obviously, the economics of those southern projects are better than the northern projects in terms of operating costs.
Perhaps moving on to the rail upgrades that are being funded by the World Bank under that PQ2 program, what workflow is being done by them? I guess, what's your funding commitment used for?
The way that the PQ schedule looks is that at the moment, CamRail is in the engineering design phase. That will be completed towards the end of this year, Q1 next year. It goes through tendering and procurement, which again is about a six-month process. They are looking to start work on the rail towards the end of next year. The significant part is to put in a number of passing bays along that 800 kilometers of rail to allow us to move longer rakes and also heavier axle loadings. Because of that engineering, tendering, procurement period of 14, 15 months, what we have done is that we've committed just under $90 million of our own funds to accelerate the work to get us above that 2 million tonnes a year.
Basically, next year at the 1 million tonnes, it's putting in a couple of passing bays ourselves and then working on those other passing bays as we dovetail into the PQ2 upgrade. We just do that initial work to get us going, and then the PQ2 upgrade dovetails into that afterwards.
Okay. Just for clarity, in your 2028-2029 production schedule, you've got sort of DNT going down to 1.5 million tonnes. Is that because you've got upgrades on the rail line? The rail line being the bottleneck?
Correct. Yes. This is all in the planning stages. It's trying to be a little bit conservative, but we can get the rail capacity to 2 million, just over 2.2 million tonnes a year. We know as PQ2 does commence, there is going to be some delays once they put those passing bays in. Yes, we have reduced tonnage in those next couple of years, but our plan would be to try and at least maintain the 2.2 and potentially increase it as we work with CamRail going forward.
Perhaps finally, in terms of local content obligations, is there much there or you're going to be able to bring equipment into country easily enough?
No, in terms of working with the government, they have been extremely supportive. You've seen the assistance they've given us over the last few years with the permitting and obviously the licensing. This will be a flagship project for the government as well as for Canyon Resources Limited. Yes, we have a good working relationship with the government, and we will continue to have that. We don't see any problems with bringing equipment into the country that cannot be supplied in country. Obviously, it enhances the economics of the projects.
Excellent. I might ask you to run. Congratulations on this, Eddie.
I thought you were going to keep on talking, Tim. I was going to just keep on asking questions.
I think you mean Jackie.
Yeah.
Thank you. Once again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr. Secca for any closing remarks.
Yes, very much appreciate everybody dialing in. Thank you for taking the time to listen to this. Myself and Kutsai are available anytime if you want additional information. We'll be happy to have one-on-ones. We look forward to giving you more updates over the next few months as we bring Minim Martap into production Q1, Q2 next year. Thank you.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.