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
The Government of India will be auctioning a total of forty three blocks in the second phase of mineral auctions during 2016-17. These blocks have been identified by seven state governments for auction under the Mines & Minerals Development & Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2015. The forty two blocks are spread across Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Maharashtra - four blocks (one bauxite, iron ore, limestone, tungsten each), Odisha, Karnataka, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan. This includes one bauxite mining block out of four identified in Maharashtra. Speaking in Lok Sabha on Monday, union steel & mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar also said that in April-May 2016, twenty two mineral blocks will be auctioned under phase one, in which eight states have notified forty three major mineral blocks for auctions....
Rural administration of the district of Wainunu in Bua, Fiji, is thinking of taking the villagers in their confidence before commencing any developmental work pertaining to bauxite mining in the region. At a district traditional meeting last week in Bua, Chief Tui Wainunu Ratu Orisi Baleitavea said a team would visit the villagers, beginning this week. The team would talk to the villagers about the upcoming bauxite mining plans and how they project would help them ean a better living. Ratu Orisi informed that some government officials were also present at the meeting last week to provide in-depth information about this bauxite project. "Our consultation will involve everything that we want to do in the district as part of our development plan. We are basically taking back to the village...
Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Sharifuddin Ab Ghani said the results of monitoring conducted with several enforcement agencies found all parties including lorry drivers adhered to the temporary suspension on the bauxite mining activity. There have been no violations of the moratorium here since it came into force on January 15. "We will continue to 24-hour monitoring at nine inspection centres in this district and tomorrow we will change 90 Hulu Kinta General Operations Force (GOF) personnel who have been on duty there with personnel from GOF's 4th Battalion in Semenyih," he said. He told this to reporters after witnessing the handing over of duties for Pahang Special Branch head from DCP Datuk Riduan Hashim to SAC Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain here today. The nine locations involved are Bukit...
Bauxite Resources Limited (BRL) in their Interim Financial Report for the half-year ended 31 December 2015 have updated stakeholders on the status of their ongoing bauxite mining operations, business direction envisioned for the next half of the financal year, and strategy being devised by the Board. During the period under review, the company continued to focus primarily on resolving the issues surrounding the Felicitas Deposit with its Joint Venture Partner Yankuang Resources Pty Ltd (Yankuang). On 21 October 2015, the company announced it had reached agreement to sell its interests in the Joint Venture to Yankuang. Formal documents were signed on 30 November 2015, with shareholder approval being received on 18 January 2016 and settlement occurring on the 21 January 2016. On termination...
India will see billions of dollars moving into deals stuck in the power, cement and steel sectors, as the Cabinet on Thursday approved the amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act, 1957). This will pave the way for transfer of captive mining leases not granted through auction. The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for the amendment to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act, 1957), according to an official statement from the Ministry of Mines. The MMDR Act, which regulates mining activities in the country through the MMDR Amendment Act, 2015, restricted the scope of transferability of concessions granted through auction, and led to termination of deals — the latest ones...
Technavio has announced the top five leading vendors in their recent Brazilian mining industry outlook 2015-2019. Out of the top five vendors, three hail from the aluminium value chain, that is, they either have operations in bauxite mining or run integrated facilities including alumina refinery. Following are the leading bauxite vendors in the Brazilian mining industry: Alcoa Alcoa operates through its subsidiary Alcoa Alumínio in Brazil. In 1984, it collaborated with Rio Tinto Alcan and BHP Billiton to form Alumar Consortium. Alumar is headquartered in São Luis, Brazil and is active in the production of primary aluminum and alumina in Brazil. Mineração Rio do Norte Founded in 1979, Mineração Rio do Norte is headquartered in Oriximiná, Pará, Brazil. The company extracts, processes, and...
Peeved over the Odisha government’s fresh bid to go for bauxite mining in Niyamgiri hills despite rejection by the Gram Sabhas, the Niyamgiri Suraksha Sangram Samiti has threatened to launch a big stir. Tribals of Niyamgiri on Tuesday sought the intervention of Governor SC Jamir to stop the State Government from trying to convene gram sabha meetings again for bauxite mining in the hills, an area sacred for Dongoria Kondhs and other scheduled tribes. Niyamgiri Suraksha Sangram Samiti and Lokshakti Abhijan, fighting for the rights of Dongoria Kondhs, submitted a memorandum to the Governor seeking his intervention in the matter as the chairman of Tribes Advisory Council (TAC). The State government had last month petitioned the Supreme Court for holding a fresh Gram Sabha in the Niyamgiri...
China imported 5.3 million tonnes of bauxite in January 2016, up 104.91 per cent from a year ago, but down 25.4 per cent from prior month, revealed data released by the China Customs. Clearly, the country’s appetite for bauxite, the principal ore of aluminium, is still not that big. Following production cuts in domestic alumina market, the demand for bauxite has fallen and will take some time to rebound, SMM observes. The falling prices of alumina in the world market has also led to the decline of demand for bauxite in China. Besides, Malaysia’s three-month ban on bauxite mining, which has been effective January 15, 2016, also contributed to the drop, an analyst added. China imported 2.16 million tonnes of bauxite from Malaysia, still China’s top supplier.
The Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation (CMDC) would soon be offering license for mining and marketing of bauxite mineral from its Barima block in Sitapur district of Surguja district. Open-cast mechanized mining method with drilling and blasting is proposed for the project, officials stated. Notably, Chhattisgarh is among 19 States in the country where the Geological Survey of India (GSI) has also proposed to take up aerogeophysical survey to explore new mineral blocks. In the first phase, it has been proposed that, reconnaissance aerogeophysical survey will be completed with magnetometer and gravity sensors and in the second phase, high resolution airborne survey will be carried out over potential mineral zones identified from the reconnaissance survey. A total of 8.13 lakh...
First Bauxite Corporation has announced the closing of the second tranche of a non-brokered private placement to Resource Capital Fund VI L.P. of a US$11 million principal amount secured convertible note bearing 8% interest and maturing August 1, 2017. The principal amount of the Note will be convertible at the option of RCF into common shares of the company at CAD$0.05698 per share for a period of one year from the date of issuance and CAD$0.10 per share thereafter, while interest outstanding on the converted amount may, at RCF's election, be settled by the issue of company shares at the market price. The company may prepay the principal amount of the Note in shares valued at the Conversion Price if the volume weighted average trading price of the company's shares exceeds 200 per cent of...
The former bauxite mine in Felda Bukit Goh, Kuantan, may be developed as an industrial area if the land is no longer suitable for oil palm. State Felda Affairs Committee chairman Abu Bakar Harun said this was an alternative plan being considered to help the settlers after the stopping of mining activities. “If the former bauxite mine is suitable to be used as an industrial area, the landowners, state government and Felda can go into a joint venture to develop the area. This is to ensure that the settlers benefit if the land is no longer fit for crop cultivation.” Commenting on the opinions of several academics that the bauxite mine was not suitable for development as its land structure had been disturbed, Abu Bakar said he was leaving it to the developers to decide. He said to date, 205...
The Supreme Court of India has renewed the hearing of the case relating to bauxite mining over the ecologically vulnerable Niyamgiri hills in Odisha, a project that has been facing several obstacles ever since tribals nixed it in 2013 at the gram sabhas. A two-member bench of the apex court recommended the Chief Justice on Friday, last week, to constitute a three-member jury to hear the interlocutory application filed by state-run miner Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC). After a failed bid to mine bauxite atop the Niyamgiri hills, OMC has sought re-convening of the gram sabhas to seek afresh the mandate of the affected Dongaria tribals. OMC had moved the SC on February 25. In its interlocutory application, OMC claimed that the Forest Rights Act and its Rules do not require any consent from...
Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh has called for a comprehensive, detailed environmental impact assessment (DEIA) to be conducted on bauxite mining activities in the Pahang capital. "Considering that not a single EIA was done before issuing the licences for the mines, we don't really know the impact of bauxite mining on the environment, people, animals, and plants. "So a macro DEIA covering all areas that are impacted must be carried out, and the results from that must be a consideration in determining the future of bauxite mining in Kuantan," she told Malaysiakini. Fuziah (photo) said this after expressing concern that Putrajaya was taking a "simplistic" route in solving the bauxite pollution in Kuantan. Bauxite mining in Kuantan is now under a three-month moratorium, until April 15, after...
The former bauxite mine in Felda Bukit Goh, Kuantan, may be developed as an industrial area if the land is no longer suitable for oil palm. State Felda affairs committee chairperson Abu Bakar Harun said this was an alternative plan being considered to help the settlers, after the mining activities were stopped. "If it is suitable as an industrial area, we may have joint-ventures with the land owners, with the agreement of the state government and Felda. This is to ensure that the settlers benefit if the land is no longer fit for crop cultivation." Abu Bakar was speaking to reporters after the closing of a corporate social responsibility programme by Politeknik Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah (Polisas) at the D'Kucing Valley Hajah Maimudah cat centre in Felda Chini 4, Pekan, yesterday. Commenting...
First Bauxite Corporation announced that it has entered into a second extension agreement with its note holders to extend from February 29, 2016 to March 8, 2016 the maturity date in all the outstanding notes issued by the company to Pacific Road Resources Funds and Resource Capital Fund V L.P. The company also agreed to revise the Tranche 2 Purchase Date to March 8, 2016 in the note purchase agreement dated October 30, 2015 between the company and Resource Capital Fund VI L.P. related to the 8 per cent interest bearing convertible note issuable to RCF VI in the principal amount of US$11,000,000. All other terms of the transaction remain in place as described in the company's news releases dated October 30, 2015 and January 19, 2016. The existing debt roll-over and tranche 2 closings...
Metro Mining Ltd has announced the receipt of the final Terms of Reference (ToR) for progressing the Bauxite Hills Project Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The ToR incorporated the relevant comments and concerns raised during the recent consultation period. The ToR was delivered ahead of the mid-March 2016 timeframe that Metro had allowed to have the ToR completed. Metro's EIS is proceeding well with the EIS document currently being collated to address the ToR. Once accepted by the State, the EIS documents will then undergo a separate public consultation period. Metro expects the EIS process to be completed by Q4 2016. This will enable Metro to finalise the Environmental Authority and obtain the Mining Lease by Q1 2017, with production planned to commence by Q3 2017.
Government of Odisha has filed an interlocutory application before the apex court challenging the landmark Supreme Court judgement in the Vedanta bauxite mine case. The Court in its judgement had upheld the statutory powers of the tribal village councils under the Forest Rights Act and the Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Area) Act to decide if they were willing to allow mining to take place in their traditional forestlands or not. In its application, Odisha government has claimed that no such consent is required from gram sabha for use of forestlands if the government decides that the rights of the people have been settled. If the application filed by the state against the Union government is accepted by the courts for hearing it could also force the NDA government to take a public...
The recently ended 6th International Mining, Exploration, Mineral Processing Technology, Metals & Machinery Exhibition at the Eco Park, Rajarhat, Kolkata, was an apt business and networking platform for the Indian metal and mining sector which is struggling with a number of issues like a volatile commodity market, environmental hazards and tribal uprisings. The four-day event which was held from February 24 – 27 saw a huge congregation of mining companies from all parts of the globe. Twenty five leading companies from China along with ten mining giants from Czech Republic, Poland, US and Australia participated in the 6th International Mining, Exploration exhibition here. There were exhibitors from Afghanistan, Belarus, Germany, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, South Africa,...
