By Jamie Hyland, MiningIR
Morocco could be positioning itself for a larger role in the global titanium supply chain as Canadian-listed Steadright Critical Minerals Inc. (CSE: SCM) advances its TitanBeach heavy mineral sands project along the country’s Atlantic coast.
Steadright has secured a mining licence for TitanBeach near Tan-Tan in Morocco’s Guelmim-Oued Noun region, where extensive black sands have returned significant concentrations of titanium and iron.
The project is also attracting attention inside Morocco. In a September 3 feature, Moroccan business publication TelQuel examined TitanBeach and spoke with L. Jouak, engineer and Managing Director of NSM Capital SARL, the Moroccan company through which Steadright holds its interest in the project.
Having worked on other titanium prospects in Africa, Jouak told TelQuel that he had not encountered one as rich as the Moroccan project, enthusiastically describing TitanBeach as an “insane” project.
192 Square Kilometres of Titanium Exploration Ground
TitanBeach encompasses approximately 192 square kilometres of exploration ground, while the recently granted mining licence covers approximately 16 square kilometres, or roughly 8% of the overall property.
Steadright’s exploration results help explain the interest. The project’s exploration results have also attracted attention in Moroccan media. Médias24 reported that sampling of TitanBeach’s heavy mineral sands returned concentrations of up to 79.5% iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) and 14.9% titanium dioxide (TiO₂).
Steadright said the samples indicated the potential presence of ilmenite, titanomagnetite, magnetite, leucoxene and rutile-bearing sands. Omar Guillou, a geologist with Moroccan consulting firm Al Mokhtabar, which conducted geological work on the project, characterized the analytical results as demonstrating the deposit’s “exceptional richness.”
The results remain exploration-stage information and should not be interpreted as establishing a mineral reserve or the economic viability of TitanBeach.
From Mining Licence to Moroccan Processing
The ambition extends beyond extracting mineral sands and exporting raw material.
“We do not simply want to exploit this sand and then export it,” Jouak told TelQuel. “We want to build a very large plant in order to produce a finished product.”
Preparatory infrastructure work for a pilot plant was announced shortly after Moroccan authorities approved the mining licence, with surveyors, architects, road access and other infrastructure forming part of the preparations reported by TelQuel.
One of the most significant details disclosed in the interview concerns the project’s prospective Chinese industrial partner.
Steadright had previously announced a cooperation agreement involving a Chinese state-owned group. Jouak identified that group to TelQuel as China National Building Material (CNBM), the major Chinese state-owned building-materials and engineering group.
According to Jouak, CNBM is expected to provide the investment associated with the project. He put the contemplated first-year investment at approximately MAD 190 million, or roughly C$27 million at recent exchange rates.
The investment figure and identification of CNBM were disclosed by Jouak to TelQuel and should be regarded as management statements reported by the Moroccan publication.
An Ambitious Production Vision
Jouak also outlined an aggressive production vision for TitanBeach.
He told TelQuel that initial production could range between 2,000 and 5,000 tonnes per day, with an ultimate objective of approximately 30,000 tonnes per day.
Jouak said the group hopes to begin operations as early as January or February and reach approximately 20,000 tonnes per day by December 2027. At the ultimate targeted production level, he believes Morocco could emerge as a leading global titanium supplier.
Those targets remain aspirational management forecasts rather than production guidance supported by a feasibility study. Steadright’s public disclosures have been more measured, describing a longer-term development strategy dependent on results from the proposed pilot operation.
Jobs, Markets and Local Impact
The development could also have significant implications for the Tan-Tan region.
Jouak told TelQuel that the operation could initially employ approximately 100 to 150 workers, with its indirect economic impact potentially extending to thousands of people.
Titanium’s potential markets are broad. Its high strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance and performance under extreme conditions make it important to aerospace and defence, while applications also extend to medical implants, chemical processing, marine environments, automotive manufacturing and energy. Titanium dioxide is also extensively used in pigments, coatings, plastics and other industrial products.
Jouak pointed to Morocco’s growing aerospace sector as a potential domestic market while indicating that future products could also be exported to Europe, Asia and the United States.
Morocco’s Critical-Minerals Opportunity
Location could become one of TitanBeach’s competitive advantages. Tan-Tan sits on Morocco’s Atlantic coast, with access toward Agadir and, longer term, the developing Dakhla Atlantic Port providing potential routes to international markets.
Steadright is also building a broader Moroccan critical-minerals portfolio. Beyond TitanBeach, the company has exposure to the Copper Valley copper-lead-silver project and has entered into a binding MOU concerning the historic Goundafa polymetallic mine, a former copper-lead-zinc-silver-gold producer.
The next phase will determine whether TitanBeach’s scale and ambitions can be supported technically and economically.
A mining licence, encouraging early assays and prospective industrial partnerships provide important building blocks. But a large processing operation and targeted production of 20,000 to 30,000 tonnes per day represent a substantial step beyond exploration results.
That is what makes TitanBeach worth watching.
The project is evolving from a story about titanium-bearing black sands into a test of whether those sands can support a vertically integrated Moroccan critical-minerals operation serving both domestic and international markets.
If Jouak’s ambitions come close to being realized, the implications could extend well beyond Steadright — potentially placing Morocco itself on the map as an emerging participant in the global titanium supply chain.
MiningIR acknowledges reporting by Salomé Krumenacher of TelQuel, published September 3, 2026. Statements attributed to L. Jouak concerning planned investment, employment, CNBM’s involvement, proposed production rates, development timelines and TitanBeach’s potential global position originate from his interview with TelQuel. Other project and technical information has been cross-referenced against publicly available Steadright Critical Minerals disclosures.
