Metro Mining, an Australian mining and exploration company based in Brisbane, Queensland, is on the road to increasing the bauxite volume in 2026 via decongestion at its Bauxite Hills Mine in Far North Queensland. As reported by Simon Wensley, the CEO of Metro Mining, in 2026, the firm will increase the bauxite shipment to 6.5 million tonnes.
Tracking recent shipments
Concerning the Q3 and the year-to-date records, the firm marked a significant record, where it shipped a total of 2.3 million WMT alone in Q3 and year-to-date, it has shipped a total of 4.1 million WMT. In 2025, to date, the firm has showcased an exceptional bauxite shipment record, mainly due to the increased production rate in the month of August by 6 per cent, where shipments totalled to 753,101 wet metric tonnes (WMT). In July of the same year, the firm had shipped a total of 714 thousand WMT from the Bauxite Hill production. Comparing with June 2024, the firm had only shipped 589 thousand WMT of bauxite.
In Q2, the firm had the advantage to generate earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of USD 32 per tonne from the Bauxte Hills. The firm’s total H1 2025 profit after tax (PAT) was measured to be USD 120 million. In the second half of 2025, the firm had been looking into methods to pay down its debt to improve the year’s balance sheet.
Simon Wensley, CEO of Metro Mining, stated, “Investors can expect a strong finish to the year. With the current geopolitical background, Metro’s market reputation and offtake agreements with our established customers significantly de-risk uncertainty and provide a secure investment for our shareholders. “
Also read: Metro Mining ships 735,000 WMT in October, keeps 2025 output target in sight
Bauxite: An indispensable material
Bauxite Hill, with more than 300 employees, has been operating since April 2018, has an estimated reserve of 77.7 million tonnes and a resource of 114.4 million tonnes by the end of 2024.
By the end of 2024 and the start of 2025, the price of bauxite globally rose, mainly because of the drastic supply disruptions stemming from Guinea and shrinking Chinese production. These issues primarily arose due to Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) terminating its operations in Guinea after the government’s mine expropriation.
Due to this, globally, the global primary aluminium demand year-on-year slowed by 1.8 per cent, down to 18 million tonnes in Q1 2025. In China during this period, the demand for primary aluminium fell by 2.4 per cent year-on-year and reached 11 million tonnes.
On the other hand, US and Indian industrial consumers hastened their consumption of primary aluminium way ahead of the rising US tariffs. The increase was mainly seen due to cost-cutting efforts by the automotive makers, with significant use of recycled aluminium, which further pushed the demand for secondary aluminium use. In Q1 2025, the rise was recorded at 5.1 per cent, reaching 6.7 million.
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Australia’s bauxite in focus
As per the Department of Industry, Science and Resources’ September 2025 Resources and Energy Quarterly, all the Australian bauxite producers have expanded as a response to the export bans arising from Guinea and Indonesia. Moreover, year-on-year, Australia’s bauxite output rose by 1.7 per cent, reaching 102 MT in 2024-2025.
Additionally, with various new projects in bauxite and other sustained output from the existing mines, it is forecasted that the Australian bauxite output will be lifted from 102 million tonnes in 2024-2025 to 110 million tonnes in 2026-2027.
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