Rio Tinto’s planned USD 1.9 billion investment in the Kangwinan bauxite project is expected to support more than 1,300 construction jobs in Queensland, while helping secure the long-term future of its Weipa mining operations as existing sources of production approach the end of their lives. Located on Western Cape York Peninsula, Kangwinan will add 20 million tonnes of annual bauxite production capacity, with first output targeted for 2029 and full production expected by 2032. The project will raise Weipa Operations’ annual capacity to around 44 million tonnes from current production of approximately 38 million tonnes. Construction is scheduled to ramp up in 2027. Beyond the immediate employment boost, the investment is expected to help sustain Rio Tinto’s residentially based workforce of...
International Responsible Business Conduct (IRBC) has completed a project examining aluminium and bauxite supply chains to improve transparency and traceability in materials supporting the renewable energy transition. The project brought together wind energy company Siemens Gamesa, Dutch cable manufacturer TKF, Digital Product Passport (DPP) technology provider Minespider, and project partner Responsible Trade. The initiative mapped selected upstream aluminium and bauxite supply chains and tested secure DPPs to organise and present traceability and sustainability information across multiple supplier tiers. Explore the production, demand and consumption forecasts of bauxite and alumina in our report: " Global Bauxite & Alumina Market Forecast to 2036: Supply–Demand, Trade Flows & Price...
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The Jamaican government has signed an agreement with China's Gansu Provincial government to develop a $6 billion industrial park and Special Economic Zone around the JISCO/ALPART alumina refinery in Nain, St Elizabeth so that they can generate optimum revenue from their bauxite reserves. A press release from the Transport and Mining Ministry said the investment would be the first and largest in a foreign country by the Gansu provincial government. "The size of the investment for this contemplated development is of major significance for both Jamaica and China, in that it is the largest investment ever contemplated in Jamaica and it’s the first overseas investment for Gansu Province," the release from the Mining Ministry stated. Jamaica has the world’s fifth largest reserve of bauxite at 2...
High Court on Thursday has cancelled ministry of lands and natural resources minister John Peter Amewu’s revocation of bauxite mining lease of Exton Cubic. The Accra High Court’s decision indicates that the company can now explore bauxite in the Ashanti Region. Justice Kweku Ackah-Boafo said that the minister has no power to revoke mining licenses. Exton Cubic Group Limited led by Ibrahim Mahama had filed an application at the High Court for revoking its Nyinahini mining lease. “The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources acted ultra vires [beyond] his statutory powers when he revoked Exton Cubic Group Limited mining leases,” according to company. In September 2017, Exton Cubic’s bauxite mining lease was revoked by the Lands and Natural Resources Ministry.
According to a report from Fiji Times, the first shipment of bauxite this year, valued $2.6 million, is being loaded in Bua bound for China. Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources acting director Apete Soro confirmed the news that total bauxite tonnage of 57,960 was being loaded by the Aurum Exploration Fiji Ltd in Bua. Aurum Exploration's Navakasiga jetty will carry the first shipment of 2018 to China. The bauxite is being loaded on a barge, which is then transported to a mother ship for sail. Mr Soro is of the view that the value of the bauxite varies according to the global market prices of the mineral or commodity and the price is calculated at the time of sale. He confirms that the cost of the shipment is about $2,666,160, subject to rate changes. Mr Soro said the export market...
Bauxite Resources has lodged a Supplementary Target’s Statement on Feb 2 in relation to the recent Bidder’s Statement for the Off Market Cash Offer from Mercantile OFM. Mercantile OFM recently increased its offer to 11 cents per share for 50% of your shares in BRL (6 cents per share after the 5 cent return of capital). Though the Independent Expert, BDO Corporate Finance now considers the revised Offer of 11 cents per share fair and reasonable to BRL shareholders that are not associated with Mercantile OFM, BRL’s directors continue to recommend its shareholders to reject the offer. They argued that the offer is for only 50% of your shareholding, is less than BDO’s preferred value on a control basis. The also emphasised that even if Mercantile are successful in their bid for control of...
Australian bauxite export market is pegged at around US$30 million in 2018. After reaching an estimated 24 million tonnes in 2017, total bauxite export from the country is expected to total at 21 million tonnes this year. An earlier Department of Industry, Innovation and Science (DIIS) report had predicted that aluminium ore exports (by volume) from the country would rise at a 3.4 per cent year-on-year rate from FY 2017-2018 to FY 2021-2022. However, with Guinea rising as a potential competitor, exports may grow at a relatively slow pace in the medium term. A series of ongoing bauxite mining projects paints an optimistic outlook for Australia’s bauxite exports. Rio Tinto-owned mines at Gove and Weipa put up a strong operational performance in 2017. Production at Gove was 23 per cent...
According to the latest update from Shanghai Metals Market, average bauxite price has dropped about RMB 30 per tonne in Shanxi province. Today’s Bauxite (6.0≤Al/Si＜7.0) price at Shanxi province stands at RMB 340 per tonne. Bauxite (4.5≤Al/Si＜5.5) price in Shanxi stands at RMB 270 per tonne. If we look at the trend in last one year, bauxite prices started gaining in August after remaining flat since the beginning of 2017. Bauxite prices started gaining in August. China-origin refractory-grade bauxite prices and metallurgical bauxite prices started increasing as the government ramped up efforts to reduce pollution. Near-complete shutdown of Chinese refractory-grade bauxite production has lifted spot prices. Only a tiny minority of plants that met strict environmental standards were allowed...
Guinea has started 2018 with big export plans. One of its bauxite mining companies La Guineenne des Mines (GDM) announced shipment of their first bauxite consignment from a western Boke project yesterday. The miner said it aims to export 2 to 4 million tonnes bauxite this year. Guinea has been racing past many countries to become the key bauxite exporter globally. With the highest bauxite reserves totalling 7.4 billion tonnes and a solid export-oriented growth plan, the African nation stands to dominate the world as the top bauxite supplier of 2018. A three-year historical data set clearly indicates at that trend. China the top producer of aluminium and the biggest importer of bauxite globally imported 27,625,811 tonnes (27.6 million tonnes) bauxite from Guinea in 2017. In December only,...
The sudden halt in Malaysia’s bauxite mining growth has put many bauxite miners in the South-East Asian mineral-rich country in financial lows. WZ Satu Bhd, for example, reported a sharp decline its net profit for the first quarter ended November 30, 2017. The Main Market-listed diversified company with business interests in civil engineering and construction, oil and gas, bauxite mining, and manufacturing said Tuesday that its net profit for Q1 of the current financial year stood at 497,000 ringgit (US$127,490), down from 8.50 million ringgit in the previous year. The profit was down mainly due to weaker results in the mining segment, it stated. "There was a share of loss in mining associates' results of 0.8 million ringgit compared to a share of profits of 2.7 million ringgit in the...
The bauxite exploration and development company Australian Bauxite (ABx) has announced its quarterly highlights for the period ending December 31, 2017. The company said it was able to complete all its sales despatches successfully as scheduled and even loaded and shipped a combined 35,000 tonnes of cement-grade bauxite from Bell Bay port, Tasmania, three weeks ahead of schedule in October last year. ABx executed a Heads of Agreement with Refined Ore Industries Limited (ROIL) for the global exclusive rights for Bauxite Refining Technology developed to beneficiate and refine bauxite into high value products (Aluminium Fluoride specifically). On completion, the project will help reduce Australia’s import dependency for the industrial mineral. The bauxite miner also commissioned Turnkey...
The state-owned mining and metals company Aneka Tambang (ANTAM) has announced its unaudited net sales value for 2017. The company has published net sales of IDR12.55 trillion in 2017 (FY17), up 38 per cent from IDR9.11 trillion in 2016 (FY16). ANTAM has reported 181 per cent increase in bauxite sales in FY17.The company has exported 838,069 wet metric tonnes (wmt) of bauxite. In April 2017, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Indonesia issued a series of export recommendations that allowed ANTAM to export bauxite and nickel ores overseas. The directive allowed export of 850,000 tonnes of bauxite. ANTAM, headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, produces ferronickel, nickel ore, gold, silver, bauxite and coal. The company exports bauxite to alumina producers in Japan and China. ANTAM...
In a bid to enhance production, Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation Ltd. (CMDC) has sought forest land diversion of 99.35 hectares of land in the state. The Corporation intends to carry out detailed exploration of more number of bauxite blocks and develop Pathrai Bauxite mines in the state. The government has confirmed one bauxite block ready for auction. The Central Ministry of Mines has been monitoring the process from close quarters; Consensus had it that Mineral Auction Rules be amended so that the auction process becomes more systematic and logical while still retaining checks on the successful bidders. The Rules were amended last year on November 30. The new rules allow the states the flexibility to allocate a certain mineral block in the 2nd round unlike earlier when...
National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) said in a report that it has recorded a growth of 7.65 per cent in its bauxite production in 2016-17 fiscal. The company has produced 6.825 million tonnes of bauxite in 2016-17, from 6.340 million tonnes in 2015-16. “Bauxite mines have achieved highest ever production with bauxite transportation of 68.25 lakh tonne achieving 100 per cent capacity utilisation and has surpassed previous best of 63.40 lakh tonne achieved in 2015-16, registering a growth of 7.65 per cent," according to the report. Nalco’s aluminium production stood at 387 thousand tonnes in last fiscal, up 4 per cent from 372 thousand tonnes in the previous fiscal. The company has registered an all-time high production of 2.1million tonnes of alumina in 2016-17 fiscal, an increase of...
Putting an end to Vedanta’s years-long bauxite hunt, the Government of Odisha has awarded two bauxite mines in the state. The two mines totalling 15 mtpa bauxite reserves will be able to take care of 75 per cent of Vedanta’s 20 mtpa bauxite requirement. Vedanta has been involved in developing a bauxite mine in Odisha’s Niyamgiri hills in a joint venture with the Odisha Mining Corporation Ltd (OMCL); on completion it would have regularised bauxite supply to the company’s nearby alumina refinery in Lanjigarh. However, environmental activism and socio-political unrest kept posing hurdles to the project. With the receipt of lease for two bauxite mines, the company now hopes to ride over the roadblocks created due to raw material crunch and the excessive financial drain. Expressing hope about...
In an update regarding Mercantile OFM’s acquisition of up to 50 per cent of the issued shares in Bauxite Resources Limited, the miner announced that Mercantile has increased the bid consideration to 11 cents from the earlier 9 cents for one of every two of its shares. Further, it has extended the offer period to 7 pm (Sydney time) on February 28, 2018. Mercantile OFM would be required to pay a sum of $2,045,530 (Additional Consideration) for the shares of the bauxite mining company if Mercantile OFM acquires 50 per cent of all BRL Shares on issue in which it does not have a Relevant Interest, the first bidder’s statement stated. In the last circular, however, Bauxite Resources had advised its shareholders not to take any action in relation to the offer until the Board of Directors had...
As per General Department of Customs (GDC) data, Vietnam exported 4.4 million tonnes of ores and industrial minerals worth $167 million in 2017. Exports to China alone- 3.5 million tonnes accounted for 85 per cent of the total export. The quantity of bauxite exported to China totalled 343362 tonnes. To note, China is the only country where Vietnam ships off its bauxite currently. It is an ideal market for mineral rich countries. It continues to buy bauxite and other ores from these countries to satiate its domestic demand. Global export-import data shows that Vietnam exported US$19,315.19 million worth bauxite to China in 2017; but the export turnover was only 51.4 per cent of total mineral turnover for the South-east Asian economy, reported an industry source. In 2018, value of bauxite...
First Bauxite Corporation has announced that it has entered into a loan with Resource Capital Fund VI L.P. for a bridge loan facility with a principal amount of up to US$5 million. The fund from the Bridge Loan would be used for the purpose of funding development initiatives related to the direct shipping operations and working capital expenses of its Bonasika Bauxite Project. The Bridge Loan will be offered in three instalments, a first advance of up to US$2 million, which has been paid to the Company, a second advance of up to US$2 million, which is to be available on or after March 1, 2018 and a third advance of up to an amount equal to the undrawn balance, which will be available on or after April 1, 2018. The loan will be repayable in full on the date of Event of Default that falls...
Rio Tinto's $US1.9 billion ($2.4 billion) Amrun bauxite project is now 75 per cent complete and the Amrun team is soon expected to award some more contracts associated with the project. Amrun project will produce 22.8 million tonnes of bauxite annually starting in mid-2019. According to Rio's growth and innovation executive Stephen McIntosh, Amrun resource could support double the amount of Rio’s present production level. "We have built some capability for future expansions into the foundations of the project itself and so have a view that the resource itself could sustain options for 50 million tonnes per annum and we are [currently] building for 22.8 million tonnes per annum," he said. Rio's bauxite operations supplied to the alumina refineries on Queensland's eastern coast, but the...
With reference to the Off Market Takeover Bid for 50% of the issued ordinary shares in Bauxite Resources Limited, Mercantile OFM Pty Ltd has lodged a revised notice with ASIC on 19 January increasing the offer. Mercantile has increased the Offer from 9.0 cents cash to 11.0 cents cash for one of every two BAU Shares. Mercantile OFM has also extended the Offer Period to 7pm (Sydney time) 28 February 2018. As a result of the Extension of the Offer Period, the new date for giving of the notice of the status of the conditions to Mercantile OFM’s takeover offer stands at 21 February 2018. The notice also said that if the proposed capital return of 5c a share announced by BAU on 15 December 2017 is implemented and BAU Shareholders accept Mercantile OFM’s Offer, the Mercantile OFM will reduce the...
