
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 6th International Bauxite-Alumina symposium of IBAAS-CAMEN organized in Conakry, Guinea during September 21-22, 2017 was highly successful and well appreciated by participants, Government officials and media. There were about 130 delegates from all over the world including several participants from Guinea. Representatives of Ministry of Geology & Mines, SOGUIPAMI, CPDM and organizations associated with mining industry and foreign companies participated in 2 days symposium and exhibition. Organizers have been requested to periodically return to this bauxite rich country and disseminate knowledge and information about worldwide developments in bauxite-alumina field. The first day International Bauxite-Alumina Symposium was inaugurated by Minister of Investment, Mr. Kasuri Fofana and...

The Southern Ports Authority in Western Australia announced last week (ending September 29) that it is set to export “some of Alcoa’s 2.5 million tonnes of bauxite” earmarked for sale over the next two years. Bunbury is the second port approved to ship bauxite for Alcoa already shipping the mineral ore via the Kwinana Bulk Terminal. Bunbury MLA Don Punch has welcomed the plan. He said the step was crucial to the port’s growth and development. “The port is a key economic driver for Bunbury and the region. Increased business through our port conducted in a way that is responsible and considerate of any potential community concerns is a huge positive for our community. “The McGowan Labor Government is committed to supporting the continued growth of the port and new trade like this shows our...

Ashapura Holdings (U.A.E) FZE (‘Ashapura’), a part of the Indian multi-national Ashapura Group has acquired exclusive mining rights for Bauxite for over 100,000 acres in the Boffa prefecture of Guinea. Guinea is home to the largest Bauxite reserves in the world, Bauxite is the primary ore for making Aluminium metal. Ashapura has partnered with one of the most reputed public-sector undertakings in Guinea, Société Guinéenne du Patrimoine Minier (‘SOGUIPAMI’) for the project. Ashapura which is already India’s largest Bauxite exporter, expects to commence Bauxite exports from Guinea by the first quarter of 2018. The Ashapura Group is one of India’s leading muti-mineral solutions provider. Headquartered in Mumbai, the Group operates from 8 states in India and from Belgium, Oman, Guinea, U.A.E,...

Russian Federation aluminium behemoth UC Rusal told domestic media yesterday that plans are in the works to commission the 3-million-metric-ton-per-annum Dian-Dian bauxite mine in the African country of Guinea by next spring. Yakov Itskov, Rusal’s alumina business director, told Russian News Agency TASS that work at the bauxite mine was well underway at present. “We look forward to deliveries of first bauxites to our alumina refinery in Ireland by next spring. We can proudly say today that we started bauxite mining [in Dian-Dian deposit – TASS]; first 100,000 tonnes of bauxites [were mined]. We are constructing and producing in parallel.” Itskov went on to say that the firm’s overall investment in the initial two phases of the project are projected at US$216 million. He continued by...

Australian strategic metals company TNG Limited announced that the company signed an agreement for the sale of its wholly owned Melville Island exploration licence application (ELA) in the Northern Territory to Rio Tinto Exploration. ELA 28617 covers an area of 1,387km2 in the north-western part of Melville Island and have potential for bauxite and heavy minerals. TNG’s Managing Director, Mr Paul Burton, said “Over the past 12 months, we have demonstrated a clear intent to rationalise our portfolio consistent with our focus as an emerging international strategic metals producer.” “A key step in this process was the successful demerger and IPO of our Northern Territory base metal exploration assets through Todd River Resources, and this transaction with RTX marks another step towards...

Brazil is the third-largest producer of bauxite in the world. The top destinations where Brazil exports its bauxite are: United States, Canada, China, Europe, South America, and many more. The country exported 1,644,831 tonnes of bauxite to China during the first seven months of this year. According to Brazil’s Ministry of Industry, Foreign Trade and Services (MDIC), Brazil’s bauxite exports increased 12.4 per cent from a year earlier to 1.09 million tonnes in August. According to the estimated figures, during the initial six months of the current calendar year, Brazil exported 5216886 tonnes of bauxite. The country exported 4396729 tonnes of bauxite in H1 2016. In H2 2017, the country is estimated to export 6517742 tonnes of bauxite, from 5282134 tonnes in the corresponding period...

The leading integrated aluminium producer of India, National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), has announced plans to diversify into areas like merchant mining, green power, and caustic soda to withstand downturns in the global metal market and sustain profitability in the long run. The New Business Model (NBM) which encompasses “immune” sectors like IPP, rare metal like titanium, recovery of iron from red mud waste (an alkaline waste of bauxite digestion), is envisaged to give a new dimension to the company’s growth plans. Nalco achieved highest-ever production with bauxite transportation of 68.25 lakh tonnes (achieving 100 per cent capacity utilization) in the financial year 2016-17. The figures even surpassed the previous best of 63.40 lakh tonnes. With the sluggishness extending in...

Hydro has issued a notice of force majeure to its bauxite customers as Hydro will not receive the full contracted volumes from its supplier, MRN, due to lower production at the bauxite mine. This will affect Hydro's bauxite deliveries to customers. MRN, where Hydro has a 5% ownership and additional 40% offtake, is experiencing problems with its tailing systems due to lack of water. The lack of water is caused by a very dry period in the region. This is expected to reduce production of bauxite from a previously expected level of 17-17.5 million mt to around 15-15.5 million mt in 2017. As the production shortfall is mostly related to dry bauxite for the export market, it is not expected that production at the Alunorte alumina refinery will be affected. MRN has a nameplate capacity of around...

Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) has floated tenders to start operations from its Kodingamali bauxite lease.In the first year of operations, OMC, a state-run entity, targets to produce 1.5 million tonnes of bauxite. From second year onwards, the output is set to expand to three million tonnes per annum (mtpa), said a government official close to the development. The commencement of operations at the Kodingamali mine would mark OMC's foray into bauxite mining. Though OMC has a few bauxite mines in its kitty, yet the mines have not been able to start operations as they lack the regulatory clearances. Bauxite deposits at Karlapat and Sasubohumali are reserved in OMC's favour but these have not opened up for want of environment and forest clearances. Bauxite mining from Kodingamali is also...

According to the NT Mining Production summary, the Northern Territory registered its highest ever minerals sales worth $3.63 billion during the 2016-17 period. Minister for Primary Industry and Resources, Ken Vowles, said “So it is encouraging to see a 19 per cent increase in mining production sales on the last financial year.” The Northern Territory produced 98, 58,279 tonnes and sold 97, 07,372 tonnes of bauxite during the 2016-2017. The value of bauxite stood at $452 million. During 2016-2017, metallic minerals including bauxite, manganese and gold dore were valued at $3.3 billion. The Northern Territory is endowed with a wide range of mineral commodities including bauxite, manganese and zinc-lead. Ken Vowles, said: “Of particular note is the value of manganese produced, which rose 79...

Despite tight bauxite supply in Shanxi and Henan due to environmental check, local market prices for bauxite rose very slow over August and September. According to Shanghai Metals Market report, the average price for Shanxi Bauxite (6.0≤Al/Si<7.0) in August stood at RMB 371.25/t and Henan Bauxite (6.0≤Al/Si<7.0) stood at RMB 390/t. Average prices for Shanxi and Henan bauxite increased to RMB 411.67/t and RMB 420/t respectively for the month of September till date. The average bauxite prices for Shanxi and Henan on September 18, according to SMM statistics is shown in the table below: We can see the growth of bauxite price in Shanxi in August and September in the following graph. The province has gone through rigorous environmental checks and mines lacking production licenses had to close...

India’s three Central Public sector undertakings under the administrative control of Ministry of Mines – National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco), Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL) and Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd (MECL) –signed an MoU on September 18, 2017, to make the country self-reliant in the areas of 12 strategic minerals that are either not available in the country or are scarce in the country. Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand, CMD, NALCO, Shri Santosh Sharma, CMD, HCL and Dr. Gopal Dhawan, CMD MECL- the three respective heads of the companies signed the MoU at NALCO's Corporate Office in Bhubaneswar on Monday. The companies also agreed to set up a joint venture (JV) company to be named as Khanij Bidesh India Ltd (KABIL). Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand said: "The objective of...

Australian Bauxite Limited announced the delivery of 30,000 tonne bauxite from its Bald Hill Bauxite mine, Campbell Town, Northern Tasmania. The customer will pay 90 per cent of the invoice value immediately and the remainder on proof of weight. “Because this delivery has been completed 3 weeks ahead of schedule, an additional sale for 5,000 tonnes of a different cement-grade bauxite specification has been agreed and will be carried in a separate hold in the same ship,” the company said. ABx's Chief Operating Officer, Leon Hawker commented; "We have again confirmed our reputation of on-time delivery of large tonnage cargoes of bauxite produced and blended to customer's requirements. Bell Bay Port is an ideal export port for bulk-shipments of our bauxite and other products that can be...

Bauxite mining operations in the Guinean mining hub of Boke resumed this Monday, September 18, after public protests over electricity cuts had disrupted bauxite deliveries since Friday, mining companies and the concerned government officials confirmed. Deliveries from three sites of Societe Miniere de Boke (SMB), owned by China’s Winning Shipping Ltd and Shandong Weiqiao, UMS International Ltd and the Guinean state, was interrupted on Friday, September 15, General Manager Frederic Bouzigues told Reuters. “Our employees were able to reach our different sites this morning and work has started again. We hope to reach our maximum capacity in two or three days,” said Bouzigues. SMB is one of the two major bauxite mining companies in Guinea and produces around 15 million tonnes of the aluminium...

Indonesia has significant reserves of bauxite and has become a major exporter to China. The country exported 50,295 tonnes of bauxite to china in the first seven months of this year. Indonesia’s export of bauxite is projected to increase in the second half of 2017. Kendawangan and Tayan mines are the largest bauxite reserves in Indonesia, having estimated reserves of 42 million tonnes and 115.8 million tonnes respectively. According to an SMM report, one company obtained bauxite export approval from the Energy and Mineral Resources Indonesia, said Dadan Kusdiana, spokesperson for the ministry. PT Laman Mining received an annual bauxite export quota of 2.9 million tonnes. However, Economic & Trade Department has the authority to issue final export permits. According to the estimated data,...

Coal India Ltd (CIL) is likely to foray into metal mining of iron ore, bauxite, copper and nickel, according to an official. The company is in the process of identifying the areas where they can diversify. The miner's Director (Marketing) S.N. Prasad said, "We do not want to be known as just a coal company. We want to diversify. We want to enter into metal mining like iron ore, bauxite and also plan to acquire some mines...do mining activities abroad in the field of copper and nickel.” “We have core competence in mining and with this we want to diversify. Mining is the strength of the company and metal mining industry is one of this,” he added. CIL did not divulge the further details of the metals mining plan. The company has planned to construct 20,000 MW solar power. For this, CIL has...

Metro Mining Limited today announced that it awarded the mining contract to SAB Mining (SAB), a private Queensland mining services company, for the operation of the Bauxite Hills Mine in North Queensland. The company started the construction at the mine in July and expects to start mining operations in April next year. Metro’s Managing Director Simon Finnis said: “Metro is delighted to have engaged SAB Mining to carry out the mining services for the Bauxite Hills mine. SAB has been integral in assisting Metro advance the project to where it is today and their formal appointment for mining operations represents another key milestone for the project.” “Metro and SAB will work together to prepare for mining activities with the view of mobilising the mining fleet to site in March 2018, ahead...

Marcventures Holding Inc, engaged in mineral development in the Philippines, is merging with Asia Pilot Mining Philippines Corp (APMPC) and BrightGreen Resources Holdings Inc (BHI) in a deal valued at $22.1 million (P1.125 billion). The company plans to issue a total of 1.125 billion shares priced at P1.00 apiece for the merger that is 675 million shares in favor of APMPC shareholders, and 450 million shares in favor of BHI shareholders. Both APMPC and BHI will be folded into Marcventures subject to approval of the shareholders. APMPC is the owner of Alumina Mining Philippines Inc (AMPI) and Bauxite Resources Inc (BARI) that both operate in 6,694 hectares, and 5,435 hectares of mining areas in Samar province, respectively. The merger with APMPC will allow Marventures to gain control of...