Aeternum to acquire full stake in Cameroon cobalt-nickel vehicle
Aeternum Resources (OTC: AETN) has agreed to acquire all of American Renaissance Minerals (ARM), the dedicated vehicle advancing the Nkamouna cobalt-nickel-manganese project in Cameroon. The deal, signed 21 September 2026, replaces a joint-venture option announced in August under which Aeternum held a right to acquire only a 51% interest in ARM. Full ownership is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary conditions.
The consideration is structured in stages against project milestones, with Aeternum issuing up to 133,333,333 shares of common stock, or pre-funded warrants in lieu, to ARM's existing shareholder. Those figures are stated before the company's previously announced 1-for-20 reverse stock split and will be adjusted accordingly. No cash consideration was disclosed.
The deal
Nkamouna is described by Aeternum as one of the largest undeveloped cobalt-nickel-manganese projects in the world. The project was permitted between 2003 and 2025 by its prior operator before the permit was withdrawn in February 2025. ARM is currently working with the Government of Cameroon, including the Ministry of Mines and the state mining company Société Nationale des Mines, to secure a new mining licence free of prior encumbrance. If granted, the project will be developed under Cameroon's Mining Code of December 2023, which includes a 10% free-carried interest for the state and requires that ore be processed to concentrate at the mine site rather than exported raw.
Aeternum's chief executive, Josua Oosthuizen, said the company intends to move quickly once a permit is in hand: "Our team has spent the past year designing, manufacturing and installing a gravity separation plant for our Nigerian project. That is the same engineering, the same discipline and in large part the same people we would put on Nkamouna."
The company's first operating asset is a tin, niobium and tantalum mine on the Jos Plateau in Nigeria, where it is constructing a modular gravity-separation concentrator. It says concept engineering for Nkamouna draws directly on that plant design.
Market context
Cobalt and nickel are both designated critical minerals by the United States government. The US imports roughly three quarters of the cobalt it consumes and is almost wholly dependent on imports for its nickel supply, excluding recycled material. That import reliance has made African hard-rock projects increasingly attractive to developers seeking to supply battery supply chains and to tap potential US Government financing that ARM's existing shareholder is said to be supporting.
Several junior miners and larger strategic investors are competing to develop African cobalt-nickel assets, with the Democratic Republic of Congo still dominating cobalt production globally. A project at permit stage, without confirmed resources under a current licence, carries substantially higher development risk than producing assets. Aeternum's OTC-market listing and all-equity deal structure reflect the early-stage nature of both the company and the project.
Critical-minerals supply security has attracted growing policy attention on both sides of the Atlantic, with the US Defense Logistics Agency and the EU's Critical Raw Materials Act both creating potential offtake and financing pathways for projects in politically stable jurisdictions that can demonstrate domestic-processing commitments. Cameroon's requirement for in-country concentration aligns with that trend, though the absence of a current mining permit remains the central near-term risk for investors.
The next milestones to watch are the award of the new Cameroonian mining permit, the conversion of historical data into a compliant mineral resource estimate, and any announcement of US Government financing engagement.