Chalco’s executive demands bauxite-rich Shanxi to become major aluminium production hub

An executive from a closed smelting unit of state-run Aluminum Corporation of China Limited, popularly known as Chalco, has demanded bauxite-rich Shanxi to become a major aluminium production hub.

China is by far the world’s biggest producer and consumer of bauxite, the main ore source of aluminium.

Gao Bingwei, director of the innovation studio at Chalco unit Shanxi Huasheng and a delegate at the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, pointed out that the Northern Province houses 1.5 billion tonnes of bauxite reserves, the highest within China.

However, Shanxi only has aluminium smelting capacity of 1.21 million tonnes per year, accounting for 3 per cent of China’s total aluminium capacity, despite being the second-biggest alumina producing region, said Gao, according to the official NPC website.

According to Gao, if all of Shanxi’s alumina is consumed locally, then the province would be able to create aluminium projects worth $ 14 billion. Gao is submitting a proposal on integrating coal, electricity, and aluminium in Shanxi at this year’s parliament, which began on Friday and would continue till May 28.

Gao’s latest call is for a redistribution of capacity in China’s sprawling aluminium industry, which is mostly concentrated in industrial heartlands Shandong and Henan.

Chalco stopped aluminium production at Shanxi Huasheng last year, citing high electricity costs as a reason and for that matter to move the capacity to Yunnan.

But Gao said Shanxi is located closer to the aluminium consumption than any other major electrolytic aluminium regions including Yunnan.