Leading rail engineering firm Vecturis joins the Minim Martap BFS team

On 9^th March 2021, Canyon Resources Limited made public that Vecturis has joined Canyon’s Owner’s team to develop the technical and commercial rail solutions for the BFS.

A privately-owned Belgian company, Vecturis specialise in railway management services and operations, functional for freight, natural resource extraction and export logistics and solutions.

Vecturis is generally experienced in single-track railway lines including bulk commodities freight. It has delivered similar consulting services for the SETRAG line in Gabon, the Nacala Corridor in Mozambique and Malawi, Ghana’s Western Line, the CFB in Angola, and several other lines in Africa and South America. Of significance and direct relevance to Minim Martap, Vecturis has subsequently worked in the West African bauxite market, providing rail traffic capacity simulation for the Guinea Alumina Corporation.

Canyon is progressing the BFS for the Minim Martap Bauxite Project. The rail component is a key element of the study and the Owner’s team has been finalising the Concept of Operations towards a defined and agreed Plan of Operations. Vecturis will complement the BFS team and ensure the rail solution is fully optimised along the length of the rail line, and in the critical loading and unloading operating methodologies where fast turn-around will have a materially positive impact on rail capacity.

James Durrant, Canyon’s Director of Projects, said: “Having Vecturis join the team for the finalisation of the BFS is a very positive step for the successful delivery of the Minim Martap Project. It is a unique situation where senior Vecturis executives were previously running the Camrail business and know the rail line and the operation very well. The appointment of Vecturis complements the BFS team and will ensure an optimal solution for the critical rail section of the Project logistics.”

Vecturis has a special connection with Cameroon and Camrail via the former South African company Comazar, which was founded in 1995 and was managed by the current executives of Vecturis.

Comazar won the international call for tenders for the concession of the Cameroonian railway and was the first reference shareholder of the concession company, Camrail, founded in 1999 by Patrick Claes, the current Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vecturis, and managed by him, as General Manager, until 2005.

During the same period, Eric Peiffer, presently CEO of Vecturis, was Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Camrail, while a representative of the Bolloré Group held the position of Chairman under the terms of an equity investment agreement between Comazar and Bolloré. In 2006, Bolloré procured from Comazar full control of Camrail.

Vecturis is now independent of Bolloré and Camrail; however, it has maintained an amicable relationship with Bolloré. It has a working knowledge of the Cameroonian rail network and its environment and has several ex-Camrail employees.