Nimba Mining Company SA has appointed Patrice L'Huillier as Director General and Djiba Diakité as Chairman of the Board of Directors, with both appointments confirmed through separate presidential decrees. The announcement was made on Friday, October 23, 2026, during a national television news broadcast. L'Huillier, a civil engineer specialising in bridges and roads, will serve as Director General for an initial three-year term, which is renewable. According to his appointment decree, he will work under a performance contract with the Ministry of Mines and Geology. The contract will establish his objectives, the methods for assessing his performance and his obligations regarding the transfer of skills to national staff. In a separate decree, Diakité, Minister Director of the Cabinet of...
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...
Grow with
AL Circle
After months of delays, Australian Bauxite says that market conditions are finally returning to a level that will make it possible to reopen operations at its Bald Hill mine. The firm has been attempting to sell the 120,000 metric tons of bauxite they extracted from their mine in Campbell Town, Tasmania, last year. AB had a sale lined up with a Chinese buyer for the Bald Hill mine bauxite until December, when the aluminium market fell, taking bauxite prices with it. AB’s CEO Ian Levy said that market conditions are improving largely due to a decision by the government of the People’s Republic of China to relax bank lending conditions. He says that they are receiving offers and negotiating contracts that they would not have been likely to see last year. “We are hoping to start shifting...
Guinea and Burkina Faso plan to take back hundreds of unused mining permits for re-auction, ministers said this week, as governments try to reignite interest in the sector amid a downturn. Permits awarded in recent years that are not being used for exploration or production should be made available to other companies, the two West African countries said in separate statements this week. Both countries' mining ministries said that the changes were brought about to clean up their outdated land registries. But they also come as resource-rich African countries struggle to entice investment due to a global slump in commodities prices. In Guinea, Africa's largest bauxite producer, 142 of 2,500 permits covering bauxite, gold, diamond and uranium prospects were recently made void, the Guinean...
Junior explorer Iron Mountain Mining has secured an option over two bauxite projects in the Solomon Islands. The company reported on Wednesday that it had signed an option agreement to acquire a 50 per cent stake in privately-held Au Capital Mining, which held two prospecting licences in the Solomon Islands. Under the terms of the agreement, Iron Mountain would pay a nonrefundable option fee of A$100 000, and if the company elected to proceed with the transaction, Iron Mountain would issue 20-million of its own shares to Au Capital Mining. A further 20-million fully paid shares would be issued to Au Capital Mining on either the first commercial bauxite shipment, or within 12 months of completion of the transaction. The Au Capital Mining tenements include the Nendo project and the Choiseul...
In a twist to the ongoing issue over bauxite mining in Shahuwadi tehsil in the district, India's Kolhapur-based Warna Minerals on Monday filed a petition in the Bombay high court claiming that it had sought all the permissions, but a Mumbai firm illegally carried out mining at the site. The hearing on the petition will be held on March 31. As per the documents submitted in the Bombay high court regarding the case, the Mumbai-based firm was carrying out bauxite mining on a plateau in Yelwan Jugai village of Shahuwadi tehsil. Earlier, the firm was was carrying out bauxite mining activity in Yelwan Jugai on over 267 hectares. The forest department first objected to it, but the company approached the Bombay high court and received interim permission for carrying out mining in November last...
Hughes Drilling’s WA division JSW has won contracts with Ramelius Resources and South 32. The South32 contract is at the Boddington bauxite mine for 18 months. Under the contract, JSW will continue to provide blast hole drilling services, utilising four blast hole drills to complete the project. South32 operates the Worsley Alumina bauxite mine in Boddington and alumina refinery near Collie. JSW has provided all blast hole drilling services to the Boddington mine since March 2013. Hughes Drilling’s managing director Bob Hughes said the company was delighted to continue working with South32 because the new contract highlighted the company's strength in delivering safe, long-term, cost-effective drilling solutions to its clients. The two-year Ramelius contract is for grade control drilling...
The tightening of global supply of bauxite and a rise in demand from Chinese alumina refineries are helping drive the price of bauxite back up. In May 2014, it was at a high of $US78.30 ($104) per tonne before heading for a steady decline; and now direct-shipped, high quality baxuite is worth around $US50 a tonne in China. The Chinese alumina refineries are already starting to feel the effects of supply crunch, which started when Indonesia banned its bauxite exports in early 2014. That ban was part of a push by the then-relatively new government to create more jobs by banning exports of raw metal commodities such as bauxite, while allowing highly-taxed exports of other metals like copper and zinc concentrates. It was hoped that would stimulate a much larger local refining sector, but the...
The proposed improved standard operating procedure on bauxite mining has been completed and sent to the federal government, said Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob, in Kuantan, Malaysia. He said the SOP, which was produced with the cooperation of all relevant agencies in the state, was submitted to the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry. "We have sent our recommendations. I urge all quarters to be patient," he said in a media briefing after opening a 2016 Malaysian Rubber Board awareness programme yesterday. Adnan said the recommendations included the setting up of new gathering centres and identifying routes to contain pollution. The federal government had imposed a three-month moratorium on bauxite mining in Pahang from January 15 to enable the formulation of an effective SOP...
Australian Bauxite hopes it will be able to finally lock in a sale within the next month for some of the 120,000 of material extracted from its Campbell Town mine last year. Trouble struck the small mining company’s Bald Hill mine in December when the global bauxite mining collapsed, just after it commenced operation. This resulted in the cancellation of a substantial sale to a Chinese buyer shortly after. Australian Bauxite Chief Executive Ian Levy said market conditions were gradually returning due to a decision earlier this year by the Chinese government to ease bank credit conditions. He said the company was now negotiating sales contracts and receiving requests that they were not receiving last year. “Because we are such a small operation, we need to be paid when it is put on the...
Bauxite shipments from Astralia to China have zoomed past Malaysia's bauxite shipments to China. According to the latest export-import data released by the General Customs Administration of China, Australia shipped 1,057,321 million tonnes (mt) of bauxite, the principal ore of aluminium, to China in February 2016, while Malaysia shipped 986,930 mt during the same period. Malaysia’s three-month ban on bauxite mining, which started on January 15, sent China’s imports from the once top supplier down 54.3 per cent month-on-month in February. Such decline in bauxite shipments caused China’s total imports to tumble 39 per cent from January to 3.22 mt in February, customs data showed. SMM attributes lower imports of bauxite partly to production cuts by major Chinese alumina refiners, especially...
A lack of regulations and coordination among government agencies were the main reasons why Putrajaya was slow to respond to the Pahang bauxite mining crisis, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar admitted today. He also said the state lacked thorough procedures to deal with bauxite mining. “Kemaman MP also had been pushing me every week to carry out the decision made by the Cabinet but I had to discuss with all the stakeholders, I have to be careful with the way I step. The delay did happen, I don’t deny what is said. “Secondly, we don’t have the best procedures, the best practice was not there. Another thing there were no rules for transportation, no rules for the stockpile… there were no rules at all. There were some guidelines,” he said in...
Malaysia’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Datuk Dr. Haji Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar addressed reporters yesterday on the subject of the ongoing bauxite moratorium and cleanup, and new rules that are expected to take effect when mining is again allowed in the area. Wan Junaidi said that the drafting of such regulations is at the final stages, and would be ready once mining resumes. “During the moratorium, the ministry had engaged the related parties to review regulations, procedures and guidelines of activities to mine and export bauxite for improvement,” he explained. “It encompassed numerous aspects including management at the bauxite extraction points, transportation, harbor stockpile management and bauxite export permit issuance.” He went on to explain that mining would...
China, the largest aluminium consuming country in the world, imported 8,524,531 mt of bauxite during January to February, marking a whopping 52.4 per cent increase from the corresponding period previous year. In February alone, the country imported 3,221,722 mt of bauxite, an increase of 7.11 per cent year-on-year, as per data released by the General Administration of Customs, China, on March 21. Australia ranked first among the countries supplying bauxite to China. Australia shipped 1,057,321 mt of the aluminium ore in February and 2,255,857 mt during January - February. However, the figures indicated decline in exports during both the periods under review year-on-year. Shipment of bauxite from Malaysia to China, on the other hand, grew 45 per cent year-on-year in February and 208 per...
Engineering conglomerate L&T's bid to bag the prized Kutrumali and Sijimali bauxite deposits has hit the wall of delay. Although the Odisha government had recommended the twin bauxite deposits in favour of L&T, the central mines ministry has questioned the delay in grant of mineral concession to the proponent and the rationale behind allocation of such huge deposits. Being the subsisting holder of prospecting license (PL) over the two deposits, L&T is entitled to get the mining lease (ML) under the amended Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 2015. The two mines, straddling Rayagada and Kalahandi districts, have combined reserves of around 300 million tonne of bauxite. "We had recommended grant of ML in favour of L&T after deciding that it is the rightful claimant over the...
The Ministry of Mines (India) has given its consent to increase the lease area for mining of the mineral from 10 sq. km to 50 sq. km. in the state of Odisha. This is expected to bring economies of scale and increase production of bauxite in the country. Deepak Kumar Mohanty, director of mines, government of Odisha said in a recent interview, “We had written to the mines ministry (in the first week of February) seeking its approval for increasing the cap for prospecting-mining-cum-mining-lease and mining lease, which has been allowed.” Bauxite is a raw material used for production of aluminium with Odisha accounting for 60 per cent of India’s estimated bauxite reserves of 593 million tonnes (MT). Odisha is also the largest bauxite producer and accounted for 35.24 per cent, or 7.64 MT, of...
In a significant development, the State Government of Andhra Pradesh is understood to have cancelled the allotment of land to AnRAK Aluminium Limited in the Visakhapatnam Agency. The land was peviously alloted to AnRAK Aluminium for sourcing bauxite for its proposed alumina refinery. The then Congress government headed by Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy had entered into an agreement with AnRAK promoted by the Government of the emirate Ras-al-Khaimah, for supply of bauxite to Anrak’s refinery at Rachapalle in Makavarapalem mandal. The government signed a memorandum of understanding with AnRAK for setting up of an alumina refinery plant and an aluminium smelter. In all, 1,212 hectares of forest land in Jerrela and Sapparla blocks in the Visakhapatnam Agency areas had been allotted to the company to...
Pahang mineral operators have submitted a memorandum to the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry urging the authorities to reactivate bauxite mining. Pahang Mineral Operators Association vice-president Yap Soon Huat handed over the memorandum to the ministry's principal assistant secretary (Administration and Finance Division) Mohd Nazif Jamaludin in front of Parliament building in Pahang yesterday. Yap said the association was appealing for bauxite mining to be resumed as soon as the moratorium expired on April 15. "We hope the moratorium will not be extended as the bauxite mining operators have followed the standard operating procedure including matters related to pollution and cleanliness. "The Minerals Department had audited our mining locations and was satisfied," said Yap, who...
Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh will retire from the business on 1 July 2016 and will be succeeded by Copper & Coal chief executive Jean-Sébastien Jacques. To ensure a smooth transition, Jean-Sébastien, will join the board and become deputy chief executive with immediate effect. During more than three years on Rio Tinto’s executive committee, Jean-Sébastien has brought greater focus to the copper and the coal businesses. He has delivered a step-change in both safety and cash performance while significantly reducing costs. Prior to joining Rio Tinto, Jean-Sébastien worked for more than 15 years across Europe, Southeast Asia, India and the United States in a wide range of operational and functional positions in the aluminium, bauxite and steel industries. He served as group strategy...
The bauxite mining moratorium that started in Pahang near Kuantan Port area on January 15 has had a rather serious effect on the operators' balancesheets. The Pahang Mineral Operators Association (PPMNP) claims, they have have suffered a loss of RM800 million since the government imposed the moratorium. The impact of the bauxite moratorium has been expanisve enough to cover sectors beyond mining. PPMNP vice-president Yap Soon Huat claimed that the moratorium had caused the industry players including the services sector, transportation operators, restaurants and workshops missing on the economic spillover of about RM2 billion per month. “PPMNP wants to emphasise that this moratorium has not only led to the drop in state revenue and corporate taxes from mining companies to the federal...
