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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One of BHP Billiton’s high ranking executives, Alberto Calderon recently retired but instead of taking time off he is planning to team up with some experienced alumni from ex-rival firm Rio Tinto and begin working on a bauxite export project from the Cape York area. With aluminium demand on a high, the bauxite mining industry is very lucrative at the moment and industry leaders like Glencore and Rio are now the prime players in the Australian bauxite projects. Mr. Calderon, who was one of the top five executives, is going into business with Gulf Alumina, where he says he has made a ‘medium’ sized investment. The deal with this private company is based on royalty where Mr. Calderon will be entitled to a percentage of the revenues generated from exports. He will also be advising the company...
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has issued a warning to the Telugu Desam Government who are planning to reopen the Vishakhapatnam bauxite mining, after studying the Memorandum of Understanding with Jinal South West Holding Ltd and Ras Al Khaimah in 2005-07 signed by the previous Congress government. The agreement seemed to be nothing more than a method to steal the rich minerals of the Araku Valley. The mines were grossly undervalued and was handed to the two parties at a measly sum of INR 258 crore whereas its original valuation was somewhere around INR 11,400 crore. The mining leases were cancelled thankfully in September 2012 by the Union tribal welfare ministry otherwise the state would have suffered a loss of thousands of crores of rupees. The CAG report creates a...
The chairman of Bauxite Angola said on Wednesday that they are planning to spend over US$500 million in Guinea-Bissau at the time it re-launches the Madina Boe bauxite mining which is located in the east of the country, in the Gabu region. On April 12, 2012 a coup was organized by Carlos Gomes Junior that upturned the government forcing the company to suspend their operations at Guinea-Bissau. The Prime Minister, Domingos Simões Pereira received Bernardo Campos on Tuesday and said, “we expect investments in the port, in railways, in the road and mine itself could exceed US$500 million,” according to the Portuguese News Network. Bauxite Angola’s chairman also expressed plans about more bauxite mines that are in plans especially next to the border with Guinea Conakry.
Vedanta Resources has been awarded top-ranking producer position by Deutsche Bank after a careful review of UK listed miners. The shares of Vedanta have now gone from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’. A total of 18 stocks were reviewed and the criteria for the reviews covered 19 metrics which included working capital management, net present value trends, product growth, commodity diversity, returns, payouts and valuation multiples. According to analysts, the reason for this top rank is largely due to the company’s recent group restructuring completed last year with the merger of its copper and zinc ore units receiving court clearance. This was an ‘important step’ in the simplification of the group’s structure, the bank stated. Another step which proved crucial to the company’s maximum ‘cash fungibility...
Prima Resources, a Bauxite Mine and Metal company based in Perth has announced that it is planning to bring a 1.0 MT/Yr Bauxite Mine & Metals Facility to the Manjimup shire in Western Australia in a move that would boost job opportunities in the region. Prima Resources provides a range of services to the alumina, mining and chemical industries in WA since 1990. The project intends to produce Aluminium, Iron and Titanium from the Bauxite Ore, and is in the Pre-Feasibility Stage. It has already secured an exploration licence for 90 Sq Kms. at Manjimup. The company is exploring funding options and a suitable JV Partner to proceed with the project. As part of the project, a facility would be built over three years and provide continuous work for 200 people and more than 600 people during...
Cape Alumina has revealed that the Cape York Regional Plan (CYRP), which was announced by the Queensland Government on 21 August 2014, will not affect the permitting or development of the company’s Bauxite Hills project. Cape Alumina will continue its development works for a Direct Shipping Ore project at Bauxite Hills. Substantial portions of Cape Alumina’s Pisolite Hills tenements are also outside the Strategic Environmental Areas and may have potential for future development. However, more work is required to determine whether those areas of Pisolite Hills which are not impacted by the CYRP may be economically developed. CBX plans to minimise further expenditure on Pisolite Hills whilst the focus remains on the Bauxite Hills project. The Bauxite Hills project, around 50 kilometres...
China imported 3.09 million mt of bauxite in July, tumbling 52.55% YoY, but up 5.73% MoM. YTD imports through July totaled 22.61 million mt, down 42.30% from a year ago, China Customs data showed. Small- and medium-sized alumina producers increased bauxite imports in July as their stocks on hand were about to run out. Malaysian bauxite gained favor as a better alternative to Indonesian bauxite in both quality and price. But low output and poor infrastructure have inhibited massive bauxite outflows from Malaysia. The Indian cabinet recently approved the increase of royalties on bauxite from 0.5% to 0.6%. Such move might prompt bauxite exporters in India to pass higher costs to Chinese importers. However, even if import prices of Indian bauxite rise, China’s appetite for Indian bauxite will...
More foreign companies are seeking prospecting and full mining licences from the government, records from the Mining Department revealed. The records showed 25 companies have been issued with exploration licences and are currently on active prospecting. This number could increase after the Mines and Minerals board met last Friday to consider some of the applications. The records also showed to date, only three companies have been granted mining licences. They are Gold Ridge Mining, Phoenix, and Solomon Alluvial – all operating on Guadalcanal. However, of this three, Gold Ridge has been the only active mining operation while the other two are inactive and are subject to review by the Mines and Minerals board. Sources have also confirmed to the Sunday Star that more mining companies are...
Tag Pacific has joined hands with First Solar Inc., a noted solar energy systems provider, to take up the assignment for building a solar power plant for Rio Tinto Alcan’s Weipa bauxite mine in North Queensland. This should improve Tag Pacific’s status in the market. The Weipa project is worth $4million and proposes to build a solar farm with 1.7 megawatt capacity. There are also talks of a second phase planned by First Solar worth another $17 million but that is not included in the current contract. This would be the first solar project of this magnitude for a remote mining site and is scheduled to finish construction by the first half of 2015. Tag MPower aims to deliver power solutions for critical applications. This project will prove the company’s mettle for integrating renewable...
Bauxite mining by Aditya Birla owned Hindalco Industries has came to a grinding halt in the Mali Parbat area near Semiliguda in south Odisha's Koraput district with the district administration imposing prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC. The prohibitory orders have been clamped in the area on August 21 in the wake of tussle between pro and anti-mining groups over mining of bauxite by Hindalco. The clash between the two groups had also occurred on January 10 this year. The supporters of the Mali Parvata Surakhya Samiti (MPSS), the tribal organisation spearheading the agitation, had damaged over 15 vehicles of the company that had entered the mines in the morning. "Since the situation is tense, we have imposed prohibitory orders in the area," said sub divisional police officer...
Glencore may be the ultimate candidate to finally tap the vast bauxite reserves that has been remained unexplored for decades, which has been the point of interest for many mining companies around the world. Glencore is supposed to hold talks soon with the government of the Australian state of Queensland. On Thursday, they announced that they have been singled out by the government as the "preferred proponent" to carry out the Aurukun Bauxite Project in Northern Australia. Talks are on to finalise the land use pact with the indigenous landowners as well as the state development agreement. The bauxite is hidden under the indigenous land of the Wik and Wik Way people in the Cape York region which is generally an impoverished area suffering from vast unemployment. Although there are talks...
MetroCoal, a major shareholder in Cape Alumina, bails the bauxite developer out of debt by financing A$250,000 to continue the Bauxite Hill project in western Cape York, Queensland. Cape Alumina reported that the loan would help the company reserve its existing cash resource, pending the MetroCoal’s takeover bid launched in August, which was primarily floated to ensure that the Bauxite Hills project continues. The new cash flow will be directed towards bauxite analysis, environmental work and additional drilling for the estimation of a measured Joint Ore Reserves Committee resource definition. The unsecured loan is supposed to be repaid on October 3, 2015 with a 10% per year, or within 21 business days from the issue of Cape Alumina’s marketable securities worth at least A$ 1-million, or...
A new company has been launched to handle a $580 million bauxite project in the Cape York. According to the Australian Bauxite Development, Nick Stump, former CEO of Comalco will be heading the new board. John Benson, another member and a part of the Australian Indigenous Resources, also bid for the lease earlier this year but it was rejected by the State Government. The new project will be an Indigenous enterprise, said Mr. Stump. The Indigenous Land Use Agreement with the Wik and Wik Way people is almost finalized. He also says the Arukun people and the traditional owners have a direct stake in the company. "That is a full carried interest and they virtually have 15 per cent of the company and joint ownership of the deposit." With 40 years of mining experience, Mr Stump is hoping that...
Post the Government’s announcement regarding the royalty hike on 23 minerals last week, it seems five states in particular will be benefitting the most namely – Odisha, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Goa and Chhattisgarh. Royalty rates on metallurgical-grade bauxite and laterite has been revised to 0.6 percent of the current price of aluminium on the LME instead of the 0.5 percent it was before. Among the 19 mineral rich states, these 5 will experience a 45 to 50 percent rise in royalty revenues, with a total earning of INR 3,867.73 crore in terms of mining royalties over the original estimates slated for the year. Collective earnings of all 19 states amount to something like INR 13,274.17 from INR 9,406.44 rising by 41.12 percent. Odisha reigns as the supreme beneficiary with the 0.1 percent...
Atlantic Ltd., an Australian mining company, finally exited the Vietnamese market after discovering there highly complicated and time consuming approval process having waited two years researching and awaiting the green signal from the government. They had planned to develop an aluminium supply chain project in the Central Highlands and had worked in close collaboration with the Vietnam’s National Institute of Mining-Metallurgy Science and Technology since 2012. They conducted a development study to initiate a collaborative bauxite mine-rail-port project in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Atlantic completed the study and submitted it to the government in January last year in the hope that the project would be approved soon, they announced late last year. However no such approval has yet...
The tribal areas around Eastern Ghats of Vishakhapatnam are expressing collective resistance to the proposal of bauxite mining in the area. The Social Welfare and Tribal Welfare Minister R Kishore Babu however say that no decision has been taken on the issue and the recent statement made by the Chief Minister at the World Tribal Day was only suggestive. On Sunday, the minister reassured the reporters that the Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s proposal was only a suggestion and neither a decision nor a permit to start mining activities in the area. He goes on to say that “The Government is committed to the welfare of Girijans and will not take up any activity that would affect their quality of life,” The tribals however have not received the announcement well and have participated in...
The Pacific Road Resources Funds announce that PRRF has exchanged the non-interest bearing convertible notes issued by First Bauxite Corporation in the aggregate principal amount of $8,000,000, which were due to mature on June 26, 2014 and July 23, 2014, for promissory notes having the full principal amount plus an amount for certain fees and expenses, and a maturity date of January 19, 2016. The Replacement Notes will bear interest at an annual rate of 10% (compounded monthly and payable on maturity). As a result of the exchange, PRRF will no longer have the right to convert the Notes into common shares of the Company. After giving effect to the exchange, assuming full exercise of the 5,660,376 common share purchase warrants previously held by PRRF, PRRF would hold 18,788,360 common...
First Bauxite Corporation today announced that effective immediately Mr. Alan Roughead has replaced Mr. Hilbert Shields as President and Chief Executive Officer of FBX. Alan brings over 25 years of experience in the industrial minerals industry focused on operations, marketing and finance. Until its sale to Sibelco in 2012, Alan was CEO and Managing Director of Queensland Magnesia Pty Ltd, one of the world's largest producers of magnesia for the global refractory and chemical markets. Alan has been a Non Executive Director of FBX since August 2012 and will relocate to Toronto in October 2014 to take up his new role. Alan holds a Bachelor of Economics (Hons.) degree from the University of Western Australia and served as a Director of Talison Minerals Pty Ltd. from 2007 to 2009. Alan's role...
