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...
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Four days after recommending first renewal of Panchpatmali bauxite reserve in favour of Nalco, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik has approved a proposal to allocate another bauxite mines in favour of the aluminium major, official sources said. With the state government recommending Nalco's name for Potangi bauxite reserve, the company's raw material problem is considered to be over for a long time. Nalco was seeking the state government's permission for allocation of Potangi mines having bauxite deposit of about 75.22 million tonnes since 1992, the sources added. State PSU Odisha Mining Corporation and two other parties were interested to get prospecting licence over this particular mine in Koraput district, they said. However, keeping in view the requirement of Nalco, Ministry of...
The Government of Odisha has included one bauxite reserve (Ballada in Koraput district) among the list of 12 mines to be auctioned in the first phase. Earlier, the state government enlisted only iron ore, manganese and limestone mines for auction. The move assumes significance as Vedanta Limited has announced closure of its 1 million tonne per annum refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district due to lack of raw material (bauxite). While the plant has been facing acute shortage of bauxite, the state government is yet to come out with a solution. Odisha is trying to be the first state in India to start the mining auction according to the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act, 2015, launched by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. "The differential global positioning...
The list of aluminium ore mines to be auctioned has been pruned. The revised list contains much lesser number of bauxite mines than what was decided earlier. It is quite a setback for the Indian aluminium industry. Against the plan to auction about 90 major mineral mines in 2015-16, the mines ministry is now left with just about 71 mines where the bidding process could start by November this year. “Few mines had to be removed from the earlier list as total station survey conducted by Mecon revealed that some mines were in naxal-prone areas, some faced land disputes while others had overlapping boundaries. In a few cases, Mecon officials were not allowed to conduct survey by the locals,” said mines secretary Balvinder Kumar. This spells bad news for companies such as Vendanta Aluminium who...
Hydro has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with Brazilian mining company Vale for the possible acquisition of Vale's 40 % interest in Brazilian bauxite producer Mineração Rio do Norte (MRN), which would strengthen Hydro's global position as a long player in bauxite and alumina. An eventual agreement will depend on the parties agreeing terms for Hydro to acquire Vale's 40% interest in MRN, completion of Hydro's due diligence process, approval by the parties' Board of Directors and by the relevant competition authorities. The parties will also seek support from the other MRN shareholders to the transaction and will proceed in accordance with the terms of the shareholders' agreement. MRN's current shareholders are Vale (40%), Alcoa (18.2%), South 32 (14.8%), Rio Tinto (12%),CBA (10%) and...
The US$ 200 million worth bauxite mining project that Singapore-based Winning International Group has planned to start in the Boke region of western Guinea of Africa, through its formed consortium will sideline traditional suppliers like India, Australia, and Indonesia. Winning plans to export 30 million tonnes a year of bauxite ore from the new mine in Guinea to China. This comes in the wake of a spate of recent developments in the bauxite market which saw Australia imposing restrictions on bauxite mining for environmental reasons, Indonesia virtually banning export, and the Indian bauxite getting lower in quality. Till now, Winning had been transporting between three to four million tonnes of bauxite ore a year from India's western shores to China. Bosco Lau Chi Wah, chief executive...
Singapore-based Winning International Group (Winning) has invested USD 200 million in a bauxite mining project in the Boke region of western Guinea of Africa, through its formed consortium. The company along with its consortium partners- Weiqiao Pioneering Group, headquartered in China’s Shandong province, UMS and China’s Yantai Port Group, plans to scale up production of bauxite ore at its Guinea plant from the present 5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 10 mtpa, and eventually to 30 mtpa in a two year time under three phases. With this, Winning aims at becoming the single largest bauxite producer of the world. As of now, the current production capacity of the world’s single largest bauxite mining company stands at 20 mtpa. Guinea in Africa has the world’s richest bauxite reserves....
¡VAMOS!, the Viable Alternative Mining Operating System, a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, has reached a major milestone with the successful delivery of conceptual design plans of the prototype and all associated equipment. The work was carried out in Work Package 2 (WP2), which also designed the system’s architecture and its functional specifications. WP2 is now successfully completed and the ¡VAMOS! Consortium is looking forward to the challenges ahead. At a Technical Project Meeting held in Nijkerk, The Netherlands, 7-8 September, the project status was evaluated. Frank Bosman, Manager Research Development & Innovation at Damen Dredging Equipment, based in Nijkerk, says that the conclusion of WP2 demonstrated that the partnership...
Government of Terengganu, the sultanate and constitutive state of federal Malaysia, intends to be more stringent on bauxite mining to prevent environmental pollution, Menteri Besar Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman said recently. He said new conditions on mining permits would be announced after the state executive council had discussed and finalised them. “Miners who flout the new rules will be severely dealt with,” he said after a lantern festival programme at Sura Gate here last night. Ahmad Razif said bauxite mining was carried out on private land and enforcement was conducted round-the-clock, including against firms operating in Pahang that used and damaged roads in Terengganu and which had drawn the ire of the people. “The new measures are necessary to curb pollution and prevent damage to...
A consortium seeking to mine rich bauxite deposits in Aurukun, in far north Queensland, is urging the State Government to reconsider its bid, amid growing uncertainty about Glencore's future. Glencore is the Government's preferred developer but the multinational's share price plunged 30 per cent over debt concerns earlier this week and despite a rebound, it is still down 70 per cent since the start of the year. Analysts predict the Swiss-based resources giant may shelve projects. The Aurukun Bauxite Development (ABD) consortium, including some traditional owners, lost out to Glencore. ABD chairman Nick Stump said its bid was still financially sound. "We'd have to see a change in the attitude from the State Government here," he said. Treasurer Curtis Pitt said the Government had no plans...
The IMO’s Sub-Committee on Carriage of Containers and Cargoes (CCC) recently met to discuss, among other issues, cargoes which may liquefy, in particular, bauxite and coal. Following the sinking of the Bulk Jupiter which was carrying 46,400 tonnes of bauxite and the loss of eighteen lives earlier this year, the risk of bauxite liquefaction has been in the spotlight. Bauxite is currently classified as a Group C cargo (that is, cargo that is not liable to liquefy) under the International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes (IMSBC) Code. However, further to the investigation on the causes of the sinking by Bahamas, the flag state of the Bulk Jupiter, which suggested that the liquefaction of bauxite led to the loss of stability of the ship, the CCC has identified the need to warn masters of the...
The global mining industry is expected to witness growth with a single digit CAGR over the next six years on account of the further expanding demand for metal and mineral commodities. In a recently published market report on global mining equipment market, Latin America has been identified as the region accounting for about 8% of the global mining equipment demand in 2013, and its contribution towards global mining equipment sales has been found to have registered at 15% for the same year. The region serves as the prime destination for mining exploration and investment at a global level. The key reason which has accelerated the growth of the Latin American mining equipment market is the enhanced demand for the consumption of natural resources. In addition, foreign investment, especially...
China’s bauxite consumption has increased on the back of continuous growth in alumina production. During the first eight months of 2015, a total of 92.24 million tonnes (mlnt) of bauxite was used in alumina production. Bauxite consumption hit 12.08 mln t in August, up 15.4% year on year. Consumption of domestic bauxite has grown by 14.7% on year to 7.95 mln t and imports have risen by 16.7% on year to 4.13 mln t. During August, the consumption of domestic bauxite increased by 300kt month on month while the consumption of imported bauxite climbed about 10kt. Xing’an Chemical Co., based in Xiaoyi City, Shanxi Province, resumed production and the second phase of Guizhou Huayin Aluminium Co’s. 800kpty capacity aluminium project come online - both producers using domestic bauxite. Alumina...
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has teamed-up with Imdex and Olympus Scientific Solutions Americas, as part of the Deep Exploration Technologies Cooperative Research Centre (DET CRC), to introduce new technology for miners. The new Lab-at-Rig technology enables analysis of chemistry and mineralogy of rocks found within a drill hole within a short space of time after drilling. CSIRO Lab-at-Rig futures project leader Dr Yulia Uvarova said: "Lab-at-Rig is an important breakthrough for the industry because of the potentially massive cost savings in drilling, exploration and overall mining operations. "If mining or exploration companies have real-time information about the mineralogy and chemistry in the drillhole, they can efficiently plan what to do...
The shock collapse of Glencore's share price this week has cast doubt over the future of a bauxite mining project in remote Far North Queensland. Shares in the Swiss-based commodities giant plunged 30 per cent on Monday, September 28 after an investment bank warned its stock could become "worthless" if commodity prices fail to recover. As the company pledged to dramatically reduce its $US30 billion debt, resources analysts said Glencore would be reassessing all projects that require more spending to get off the ground. That leaves a question mark over its ambitions to develop a rich bauxite deposit on land belonging to the Wik and Wik Waya people in Aurukun on the western Cape York Peninsula. "At the moment [Glencore] probably has bigger problems inside its balance sheet and that may in...
Rio Tinto and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) have announced the Weipa Solar Plant will generate electricity for the mining conglomerate’s bauxite mine, processing facilities and the township. At peak output, the 1.7 megawatt plant can generate sufficient electricity to support up to 20 per cent of the town’s daytime electricity demand. It is the first time a remote Australian mining operation has been supplied with power from solar PV on such a scale. ARENA provided an initial $3.5 million for the project and up to $7.8 million is available for the second phase. Rio Tinto Weipa operations general manager Gareth Manderson said the energy from the plant was expected to help reduce diesel usage at the mine’s power stations by up to 600,000L a year. “This will reduce Weipa’s...
Engineering giant Larsen & Toubro's (L&T) bid to secure Kutrumali and Sijimali bauxite deposits has got a major breakthrough with the Odisha government sending the DGPS (Differential Global Positioning System) survey report on the mines to the Union mines ministry. "The Centre had asked for DGPS survey report in respect of Kutrumali and Sijimali bauxite mines and we have sent it. Now, there should not be any hurdle for L&T to secure these deposits since they already have a prospecting license (PL)", said a senior government official. Despite being a PL holder over Kutrumali and Sijimali bauxite leases, L&T's bid to bag the deposits had come unstuck. The lack of any end use plant had aborted L&T's earlier attempts of winning the mining lease (ML). L&T had won PL for Sijimali and Kutrumali...
Landowners of Fiji's first bauxite mine at Nawailevu in Bua are yet to get their fair share of royalty because a formula to determine it will be part of the review of the Mining Act. And until that happens, royalties will be held in trust by Government. This was clarified by Lands Minister Mereseini Vuniwaqa in Parliament on Friday. Last Monday, Opposition parliamentarian Mosese Bulitavo told Parliament that Nawailevu landowners managed to buy only two twin cabs, set up a village canteen, improve their homes, invest in Fijian Holdings Ltd and also a $600,000 fair share of royalty for the future generation compared with the landowners of Papua New Guinea western and southerland highland province. Mr Bulitavo said the PNG landowners were shareholders of PNG's mineral resource development...
Malaysia replaced Australia as China’s top bauxite supplier in August due to its overwhelming price attractiveness. China imported 2.01 million tonnes of bauxite from Malaysia in August, 45% of total imports, customs data showed. Average CIF price of Malaysian bauxite was $ 45.65 per tonne in August, 14.23% lower than Australian ore and 27.87% lower than Indian ore. Robust demand from Chinese alumina refineries drove China’s bauxite imports up 83.35% from a year ago to 4.58 million tonnes in August. Six large alumina refineries in Shandong alone produced 1.53 million tonnes of alumina in August, SMM survey found, boosting reliance on imported bauxite.
