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Guinea looks beyond bauxite as Glencore partnership expands into alumina and energy
Alumina15 SEPT 2026

Guinea looks beyond bauxite as Glencore partnership expands into alumina and energy

Guinea is looking to expand its partnership with Glencore beyond bauxite exports, with the two sides discussing potential investments in alumina refining, energy and other strategic projects as Conakry seeks to build more processing capacity at home. The discussions follow a more than USD 300 million bauxite pre-financing and offtake agreement signed last week between state-owned Nimba Mining and Glencore. Under the deal, the Swiss commodities group will market 10–12 million tonnes of bauxite annually for five years, giving it a significant position in one of the world's largest bauxite-producing countries. Guinea's Mines Minister Bouna Sylla said the agreement could provide a foundation for a broader partnership across the country's aluminium value chain. "Glencore has indicated strong...

WEEKLY: China alumina prices edge lower but pace slows as firm costs buffer soft supply glut
Alumina15 SEPT 2026

WEEKLY: China alumina prices edge lower but pace slows as firm costs buffer soft supply glut

Domestic alumina spot prices held steady with slight adjustments last week, and scattered transactions showed mixed pricing. On the supply side, recent domestic alumina operating capacity stayed at around 99.4 million tonnes per year. A new alumina project in Beihai, Guangxi, is expected to start feeding material for trial production late this month, with associated capacity of about 2 million tonnes per year, and specific progress will be tracked closely. Meanwhile, roughly half of the industry's capacity is now running at a full-cost loss, and some producers have even slipped into cash-flow losses. Costs show no signs of easing though, and with few bullish drivers in sight, sector loss pressures keep mounting. Prices held flat last week mainly because new capacity releases are still...

RUSAL nears final approval for new bauxite-to-alumina project in Kalimantan, Indonesia
Alumina14 SEPT 2026

RUSAL nears final approval for new bauxite-to-alumina project in Kalimantan, Indonesia

Russian aluminium producer RUSAL is nearing the final stage of the permitting process for a planned bauxite-to-alumina processing project in Kalimantan, Indonesia, according to Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia. The project will process bauxite into alumina as part of Indonesia’s push to expand domestic mineral processing. Lahadalia said the Indonesian government is involved in the overall development, while RUSAL will work directly with Indonesian private companies on the project. Lahadalia said, “They are going to build a downstreaming facility to process bauxite into alumina. It will be located in Kalimantan. The permitting process is already in the near-final stage.” The minister has not yet disclosed the names of RUSAL’s local partners or the expected investment...

Alcoa prices $2.6b senior notes for South32 bauxite, alumina and aluminium deal
Alumina10 SEPT 2026

Alcoa prices $2.6b senior notes for South32 bauxite, alumina and aluminium deal

Alcoa Corporation has set the price for a USD 2.6 billion senior notes offering to help finance the cash consideration for its proposed acquisition of South32’s bauxite, alumina, and aluminium assets . Along with the cash on hand, this debt is expected to provide permanent funding for the approximately USD 3.1 billion cash part of the transaction. The offering consists of USD 1.5 billion of 6.63 per cent Senior Notes due in 2034, to be issued by Alumina Pty Ltd, and USD 1.1 billion of 6.88 per cent Senior Notes due in 2036, issued by Alcoa Nederland Holding BV. Both of these companies are fully owned by Alcoa. The notes will be backed by Alcoa and some of its subsidiaries on a senior unsecured basis. The deal is expected to finalise on September 23, 2026, depending on usual closing...

Carbonation curing could extend the field life of red mud-based backfill, new study suggests
Alumina09 SEPT 2026

Carbonation curing could extend the field life of red mud-based backfill, new study suggests

Chinese researchers show that a few extra hours of CO2 curing can roughly double the wet-dry service life of red mud–CFB ash–MgO backfill, while keeping leaching of hazardous elements low even after weeks of exposure to alkaline red mud liquor. Red mud remains one of the aluminium industry’s largest unresolved waste streams. Global bauxite residue generation has been running well above 175 million tonnes a year, against roughly 140-155 million tonnes of alumina output, and only a small fraction of that residue, commonly cited at around 2-5 per cent, is currently converted into a saleable by-product. The rest continues to swell tailings dams that, by some industry estimates, already hold more than 4 billion tonnes of accumulated material worldwide. Turning red mud into cemented backfill...

From black shale to smelter feed: CEM advances North American alumina supply chain
Alumina09 SEPT 2026

From black shale to smelter feed: CEM advances North American alumina supply chain

Canadian Energy Metals has demonstrated a process for producing smelter-grade alumina from Saskatchewan black shale and has started a prefeasibility study for its Thor Project. Canadian Energy Metals Corp. (CEM) has taken a step towards developing an alternative North American source of alumina after demonstrating that material derived from its Saskatchewan black shale resource can be converted into smelter-grade alumina (SGA). The company said testing has consistently produced SGA samples meeting the same purity and specifications as alumina made through the Bayer Process, the established industry route for refining bauxite. The result expands the potential development pathway for CEM's Thor Project, where the company is pursuing alumina alongside strategic and critical metals from black...

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