Alumina producers from low-grade Bauxite “iB2” plan to build an alumina refinery in China’s Shanxi province

iB2, the innovative technology developer, for the production of Alumina from low-grade bauxite will soon initiate feasibility studies for the construction of an alumina plant in China's Shanxi province, with Anne Lauvergeon as Chairman of the board. Yves Occello, CEO of the French company, has two founders of the company Alliance Minière Responsable (AMR), which is active in Guinea, on its board.

The alumina experts are willing to commence the engineering work on its first alumina production unit in Shanxi province in northern China, as the company seeks to execute feasibility studies for about a year before construction.

As per the iB2, if everything drives as planned, the alumina refinery could begin production in late 2022 or 2023. However, the unit will engage with Chinese industrials to refine low-quality bauxite, extensively available in the subsoil of many interior provinces and Shanxi is one of them, while for high-grade alumina has to import which incorporates Guinea.

The management team of iB2 is very familiar with Guinea, as CEO, Yves Occello, has been advising Guinea’s authorities and businesses about bauxite for years through his consultancy Amber Development, which is also iB2's majority stakeholder.

On July’20, he was appointed as the Non-Executive Director on the board of Lindian Resources, one of the bauxite exporters from Guinea. In the past times, he was also part of Sarmin Bauxite Guinée's management team, from which Lindian acquired Lelouma. Occello has also done consulting work with global giants such as Rio Tinto Alcan and Pechiney.

Besides China, iB2 is scanning for opportunities to use its technology in other countries with large quantities of low- to medium-grade bauxite which includes Saudi Arabia and Kazakhstan.