Mozambique plans to invest around USD 126 million in a solar power plant to supply electricity to mining companies in Gaza Province, southern Mozambique, according to state news agency AIM. Provincial governor Alfeu Cuna announced the plan at the Conference on Adding Value to Mineral Resources (CAVAME-d 2026) in Nacala. The project aims to strengthen electricity supply for mining operations and industries linked to mineral processing. Gaza Province has heavy mineral sands deposits at Chibuto and limestone at Mabalane. The government is also planning mineral processing facilities in Mabalane and Mapai, where limestone deposits have been identified. Other mineral resources in the province could support cement production and related industries. Explore the production, demand and consumption...
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...
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Jamaican government and Noranda Bauxite Limited are at loggerheads as issues arise regarding payment of bauxite levy imposed by the government. The issue was revealed by Finance Minister, Dr. Peter Phillips on Wednesday, at the close of the budget debate in the House of Representatives. During the period of global economic crisis, the government had agreed to allow concessions on bauxite levy in an agreement established in 2009 and the regime was to end in December 2014. However Noranda now demands another 5 year extension on bauxite levy concession and the company has not been paying full levy since January, says Peter Phillip. He says, considering the financial condition of Jamaica and the improvements in the global economy, providing concessions will not be feasible for the country....
The Indonesian government is in a fix about what to do with the mineral export ban since the announcement of a possible annulment of the ban caused mixed reactions. Said Didu, the head of smelter development acceleration team had said recently that the government is thinking of easing the bauxite export ban to generate revenue if miners were ready to commit that the earnings will be used for building smelters. Budi Santoso however argues that the idea is irrelevant. First of all this system would provide opportunity to play favorites with big companies. The policy should be applied to all mining companies. Another important consideration is that export of bauxite does not yield nearly enough revenue to develop smelters. While it takes between $500 million and $2 billion to build a...
After delays in construction, Vietnam’s second bauxite refinery plant in the Central Highlands province of Dak Nong will have its first test run next month, news website Saigon Times Online reported Tuesday. Le Minh Chuan, chairman of the Vietnam National Coal and Mining Industries Group (Vinacomin), was quoted as saying that the test is to prepare for Nhan Co Plant’s trial production later this year. Work on the plant, which is designed to produce 650,000 tons of alumina a year, started in 2010. The construction was scheduled for completion in 2012, but delayed due to difficulties in site acquisition. Vinacomin also plans to operate the country’s first plant, Tan Rai in nearby Lam Dong Province, at its full capacity by the end of the year, according to the report. The plant is currently...
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller announced a short while ago that the Russian company UC RUSAL yesterday commenced the mining and processing of bauxite at the Alpart refinery at Nain in St Elizabeth. So far, the company has employed some 40 people and it has given its commitment to employ another 70 people by the end of April, the prime minister said. Simpson Miller made the disclosure while addressing the House of Representatives in her budget presentation Tuesday. The haulage of the bauxite from the factory to the ports will take place during April.
Industry leaders Rio Tinto and Alcoa bow out of the State Agreement Act developed to initiate a bauxite mine and alumina refinery in the north Kimberly region, so that the region can be included in a proposed national park. Mitchel Plateau area was reserved for the development of bauxite mine and alumina refinery according to the Act established 40 years ago. However the two giants are ready to give up this land so that the 175,000 hectare land can become a part of the national park which may be Australia’s largest covering over 2 million hectares across Kimberly. Alcoa Australia MD Alan Cransberg says, “While the Mitchell plateau bauxite resource is likely to hold value in the future, the State Agreement Act requires the development of an alumina refinery, which has always proven to be...
Australian Bauxite has estimated initial resources for its Bald Hill mine near the Campbell Town production centre in Tasmania to be 3.5 million tonnes. Total Tasmanian bauxite resources now total 9.2 million tonnes, an increase of 61%, with bulk test pits in mid-2013 indicating yields of 65% to 75%. Crucially, reactive silica grades are low at 3.1%, with available alumina grades of 37.2%. Extensions of the Bald Hill deposit have been found and will be exploited during mining, and deposits at Fingal Rail and Nile Road are known to extend beyond the resource limits. These initial resources from the Campbell Town production centre increase ABX’s total bauxite resource base for all regions to 119 million tonnes. Drilling is in progress in the DL-130 area and revised resource estimation will...
An Indonesian mining ministry official on Monday said that export ban on bauxite may be eased to promote smelter building in the country. The country had banned the export of minerals last year in a bid to develop the upstream industry within the country and only export processed, end products. Mineral export contributed significant earnings to the country’s economy and the complete ban on exports has put an additional pressure on the economy. Producers have had to halt construction of upstream processing plants due to lack of funds. The government is considering easing the export ban and allowing mineral producers to acquire some revenue to continue the construction of smelter facilities, said Didu, head of the national smelter development team at the Energy and Mineral Resources...
Aziana Limited has signed a conditional agreement to sell its Manantenina Bauxite Project in Madagascar for a total consideration of US$2 million (A$2.56 million) to India’s Thankys Exports Pvt. Ltd. The non-binding agreement includes a royalty of US$0.50 per tonne of bauxite mined. Manantenina currently has a resource of 10.09 million tonnes. Further high quality bauxite has been identified over more than 80 square kilometres of the project but is as yet unquantified. Thankys exports gibbsiferous bauxite from their existing mines in India and has been involved in the exploration for and development of bauxite deposits since 1980. Sale agreement Under the proposed agreement, the buyer has agreed to make a minimum royalty payment of US$200,000 per annum for the first five years regardless...
On Friday, the Parliament passed the much debated Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (MMDR) Bill, 2015, a move that is expected to boost investments in the country. For the Indian economy to receive the much needed thrust forward, foreign investments are necessary and mining is a good industry to draw in interest. However, the irregular licensing systems are a great deterrent and Kameshwara Rao, the Energy, Utilities and Mining leader at PwC says, "Clarity on licensing terms, auctions, transfer of concessions will enable the sector to attract investment on its own terms, without having to depend on end-use plants." Despite the improvements the new Bill will bring, steel and aluminium companies can expect a rise in costs as there are fears of higher royalty payments for minerals...
Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL) will be granted laterite deposits by for their Lanjgarh in Kalahandi district the State Government announced on Friday. An agreement will be signed between the government and VAL to explore the laterite deposits which contain substantial amount of aluminium although special technology is needed to extract it from the laterite soil. VAL was running short of raw materials for the Lanjigarh refinery after permission to mine in the sensitive Niyamgiri Hills was denied by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). The group had urged the government to provide alternate bauxite supplies and fast track its application for three laterite deposits in Koraput district. Vedanta has applied to 33 alternative bauxite mines like Karlapat, Sasbahumali,...
The government has approved a proposal from Odisha to allocate a bauxite deposit with reserves of over 150 million tonnes to the state mining company, a move likely to help companies like Sesa Sterlite Ltd that are banking on the raw material to fire their aluminium smelters in the state. In a parliament response on Tuesday, junior steel and mines minister Vishnu Deo Sai said the proposal to allocate the Karlapat bauxite deposit to Odisha Mining Corp (OMC) had been approved and conveyed to the state government. OMC, which has bauxite mining joint ventures with companies including Vedanta and Hindalco Industries Ltd, last month scrapped its joint venture with global mining giant Rio Tinto to focus its efforts on mining independently. A senior Sesa Sterlite executive, who did not want to be...
While Chinese investments in Africa get enough media coverage, Middle East is silently entering the African continent with their own plans for strategic investment. Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development and Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) is planning a US$5 billion investment to develop the upstream industry which includes a bauxite mine, alumina refinery and port in Guinea as well as in West Africa. While bauxite is an important resource for Africa, with Guinea being the largest supplier of bauxite in the world, aluminium is now a key industry for the Middle East. UAE in a bid to reduce their dependence on oil has diversified to the lighter metal and has a strong state support in the industry. According to the Agreement, the bauxite mine will be ready to export ores by 2017while the alumina refinery...
Fifteen new apprentices have picked up their tools and launched their careers in the mining sector with Rio Tinto’s Weipa bauxite operation. The recruits will develop skills in fields such as diesel fitting, fitting and turning, electrical, and boilermaking over the next three to four years to gain a nationally recognised trade certificate. Four of the apprentices are Aboriginal people, including the recipient of this year’s Ely Apprenticeship, Yupungathi traditional owner PJ Ahmat. The Ely Apprenticeship is awarded each year to a local Aboriginal person who has a connection to one of the six traditional owner groups represented in Weipa’s Ely Bauxite Mining Project Agreement, or to someone who has a historical connection with the communities of Mapoon, Napranum or New Mapoon. The...
In Jamaica’s Budget for the financial year 2015-16, the government will repeal the discount given on the bauxite levy and companies will now have to pay full amount. Dr. Phillips told the House that there has been a positive wave in the international market that has also boosted the price of bauxite and alumina. As a result, the Prime Minister feels that the discount should be repealed so that the earnings from the levy can be used for overall growth of the country. "While we understand the reasons in the past, which both administrations have had to engage in to discount or relieve production companies of the requirements under the Bauxite Levy Act, the interim regime in respect of the bauxite levy which was negotiated in 2008/9 came to an end last December. The full levy is now due and...
Chalco will invest 2.6 billion yuan ($400 million) to explore bauxite in Chongzuo, Guangxi – one of China’s bauxite-rich regions – local media reported. Feasibility report was completed last December, and groundbreaking might start as soon as this June, the media added. Once operational, the project will produce 2.58 million tonnes of bauxite annually, together with 800,000 tonnes of metallurgical-grade alumina, it reported.
South Goa traffic cell has lodged a complaint with the district magistrate to restrict the transportation of bauxite-laden trucks operating between the Naquerim-Betul and Vasco as it causes traffic congestions in the port area, especially during peak times. Trucks are said to make around 220 trips throughout the day on this route with the numbers often increasing. Currently their movement is utterly unrestricted, plying from morning to late nights without any monitoring from the mining department. Heavy-trucks cause severe bottlenecks on the streets, especially in the Navelim junction, Rawanfond junction, Arlem junction and Vasco port regions during peak hours. According to the traffic department, more than half their resources are allotted to oversee the traffic in these regions. Parking...
UC Rusal commenced mining operations at its $25 million Kurubuka-22 project, which is located near Kurubuka in Guyana. The bauxite deposit is estimated at 30 million metric tons (mt). Development began in 2013 with construction of the mine, infrastructure development, building of access roads, barge loading facilities at the Berbice River, and a factory that allows the maintenance of a full production cycle from mining to dry bauxite barge loading. Optimization of logistics costs has been reached thanks to a reduction of transportation distance from the mine to a sea reloading point. President of Guyana Donald Ramotar and Vladislav Soloviev, CEO of Rusal, attended the opening ceremony. “The development of the Kurubuka-22 mine is in line with Rusal’s strategy to strengthen vertical...
In a bid to enhance diversification, the CNA Group has expressed interest in bauxite venture signing a non-binding MoU with a bauxite mine and processing plant in Shanxi, China for a five percent stake in the company. The fruitfulness of the venture will only come forth in due course said the company on Thursday. Chief executive of CNA, Michael Ong says the move can be termed as a "new strategic direction to develop revenue streams from investments to balance cyclical project revenues". An agreement with Liul inxian Senzetengfei Aluminium Industry Co will provide the necessary technological and engineering expertise needed to carry out the business within China. CNA revealed that the mine has reserves worth an estimated $600 million and is generating income of $10 million per year and...
