Metro Mining Limited shipped 2.1 million wet metric tonnes (WMT) of bauxite in the third quarter of 2026, up 17 per cent from 1.8 million WMT in the previous quarter. However, shipments remained below the 2.25 million WMT recorded in Q3 2025. The Australian bauxite producer reported improved market pricing during the July–September quarter, with its delivered (CIF) price rising by 6.5 per cent to AUD 60.8 (USD 42.79) per WMT from AUD 57.1 (USD 40.18) per WMT in Q2. Site EBITDA increased to AUD 7 (USD 4.93) per WMT from AUD 4.4 (USD 3.10) per WMT. Mining and shipping operations faced maintenance work, equipment issues and channel erosion during the quarter. The company said its offshore floating terminal, Ikamba, underwent a one-week shutdown in July to replace four large hydraulic crane...
Ghana Bauxite Company Limited (GBC) has appointed Ecobank Ghana PLC to arrange up to USD 250 million in financing for its expansion programme, which aims to increase bauxite production and improve mining and logistics infrastructure. The parties signed the agreement in Accra on October 28, 2026. Ecobank will structure the proposed financing and coordinate participation from other banks and financial institutions. The package includes a term loan and a revolving credit facility to cover capital investment and working capital. The funds are expected to support investments in mining equipment, haulage capacity, materials-handling systems and other infrastructure at GBC’s Awaso operations in the Western North Region. Explore the production, demand and consumption forecasts of bauxite and...
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Public Sector National Aluminium Company seems to be heading for major crisis this month as the 30-year-old mining lease of company’s only bauxite mine in Koraput district is about to expire on November 16 with no signs of the lease getting renewed in the next couple of weeks. The central and north block of Panchpatmali bauxite mines in Damanjodi block of Koraput district spread over 4,692.05 hectares is the only working mine with Nalco. It produces 6.3 million tonne of bauxite per annum. Of the 4,692.05 hectare, Nalco surrendered 1,288.76 hectare in May 2002. In July 2010, Nalco surrendered 2,087.918 hectare to the state government. The company has now sought temporary working permit for a year over broken-up forest land of 921.70 hectare in the same mine. As per a circular of the...
High-grade bauxite deposits in western Cape York could become China's preferred source if plans to expand mining in the world-class Weipa province go ahead. Exploratory miner Cape Alumina has significantly upgraded its resources to 202 million tonnes, which is about half of its target. Despite opposition from conservationists because of its proximity to the Wenlock River, the company's Pisolite Hills project has now been declared a 'significant project' by the Queensland Government. Cape Alumina's Nev Conway says a concerted environmental campaign will not stop the 200 million dollar integrated mine and port project at Port Musgrave, north of Weipa, from going ahead. "All we ever want from any government, whether it's commonwealth or state, is a fair go and due process," he said. "If the...
Approximately $10 million has been generated from the Bua bauxite mining so far. Mineral Resources assistant director Venasio Naisara said this is after five shipments of bauxite were shipped out to China by Aurum Exploration Fiji Limited. Naisara said mining has picked up very well given that it was struggling in the early part of the year due to bad weather which has also affected the completion of the causeway at Naiviqiri to enable the loading of the soil. According to Naisara, there were concerns raised by some local villagers including the company about the impact of the mining operation on the marine ecosystem at Naiviqiri. He said this was later found to be baseless after a meeting with the relevant stakeholders and company. Meanwhile, the Nawailevu landowners will receive over...
Jamaican Government is to take $1.8 billion from the Capital Development Fund, $1.4 billion of which is to be used for budgetary support. Dr Peter Phillips, the finance and planning minister, laid a withdrawal order in the House of Representatives today, indicating his intent to draw down on the funds, which are proceeds from the bauxite levy. The order indicates that the Jamaica Bauxite Institute is to receive $154 million from the withdrawal to support its programmes. Another $130 million is to be spent on the implementation of special projects in bauxite communities under the Bauxite Community Development Programme. The remaining $145.7 million is to be given to the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing to meet commitments arising from the privitization process of the Jamaica...
Bauxite Resources Ltd, and its joint ventures has increased its overall JORC compliant bauxite resource base to 142.3 million tonnes with a new bauxite resource defined at the Bauxite Alumina Joint Ventures (BAJV) Cronus deposit approximately 15km east of Boyup Brook, Western Australia. This is the first bauxite resource defined in the Boyup Brook area by the BAJV. Further drilling in the southern tenements is currently underway, and planning for future exploration work is occurring although no immediate follow up work is planned for the Cronus deposit. BRL considers the JORC resource increases achieved over the last 12 months to be an excellent result that significantly improves the opportunities for the Company and its joint venture partners to develop bauxite mining operations in the...
Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Partners saw its third-quarter profit plunge on near historically low aluminium prices. The subsidiary of US-based Noranda Aluminum Holdings posted a profit of US$0.3 million ($27 million) for the three months to September 30, compared to US$6.8 million in the corresponding period in 2011. Lower bauxite prices, which are linked to LME prices for aluminium, the finished product derived from the red dirt ore, and increased shipping demurrage costs. "Our third-quarter 2012 results reflect LME levels which reached near historical lows during the quarter," said Layle "Kip" Smith, Noranda Alumina's president and CEO. "We are prudently managing our balance sheet and cost structure through the current LME environment. Persistent global macroeconomic concerns, particularly...
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman says the Commonwealth is taking too long to consider a proposed bauxite mine expansion in the state's far north. Rio Tinto Alcan is seeking federal environmental approval for a $1.5 billion bauxite mine and port development at Weipa on western Cape York. The company plans to ship the product to Gladstone in central Queensland for processing into aluminium but the Federal Government is still assessing if that will impact the Great Barrier Reef. Mr Newman says the Federal Government is dragging its heels. "They do need to access bauxite coming out of the proposed South of Embley project," he said. "Given the significant investment that Rio Tinto have made to the refining process in Gladstone, I'd urge the federal Environment Minister to get behind South of...
Pacific Aluminium's (Rio Tinto) Gove bauxite mine and alumina refinery are vital economic assets and critical parts of Australia's aluminium supply chain that must remain fully operational, according to The Australian Workers' Union (AWU). Pacific Aluminium today announced it would conduct a review of the Gove operations, placing the future of the refinery under a cloud. AWU National Secretary Paul Howes today said Rio Tinto was responding to short-term economic pressures when the long-term fundamentals for the aluminium sector were strong. “The Australian aluminium sector has been built on our competitive advantages in the supply of bauxite and competitive energy. “In recent years, however, the sector has been shaken by the perfect storm of low international prices and the sustained high...
Government intends to rid itself of its stake in Clarendon Alumina Partners (CAP) in the next two months. "We are currently in discussions with potential partners in CAP which is aimed at taking CAP off the Government's accounts totally by the end of this calendar year," Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips told Parliament on Tuesday. He was responding to queries from Opposition Spokesperson on Finance Audley Shaw. Phillips, however, did not disclose who the potential investors were. "Those discussions (are) proceeding and I am not at this point at liberty to name the partners or the parameters of the discussions, but we are confident that the obligations to the public accounts will not take place for the future." The negotiations for the divestment of Government's stake in CAP was...
Cape Alumina says it has now discovered an estimated 200 million tonnes of bauxite during exploration on Cape York in far north Queensland. The ABC reports the company holds exploration permits covering 1900 square kilometres in the western Cape region. "We've got an exploration target of 400 million tonnes and we're halfway there," said spokesman Neville Conway.
After being shut for nine days due to lack of bauxite, the alumina refinery of Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) at Lanjigarh in Odisha's Kalahandi district opened on Monday with arrival of some raw material. "The refinery plant, which was temporarily shut down on October 13, has opened and re-started operations as we have managed to procure bauxite from Chhattisgarh and Gujarat," VAL COO Mukesh Kumar told PTI. However, it would take two to three days to resume actual production as it involves a gradual process, he said, adding the captive power plant is also being made operational. Stating that the company now had a stock of about 40,000 tonnes of bauxite, Kumar said about 3,000 tonnes of the ore was being received from the Kwardha mines of Balco in Chhattisgarh for the last few days. In...
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman says the Commonwealth is taking too long to consider a proposed bauxite mine expansion in the state's far north. Rio Tinto Alcan is seeking federal environmental approval for a $1.5 billion bauxite mine and port development at Weipa on western Cape York. The company plans to ship the product to Gladstone in central Queensland for processing into aluminium but the Federal Government is still assessing if that will impact the Great Barrier Reef. Mr Newman says the Federal Government is dragging its heels. "They do need to access bauxite coming out of the proposed South of Embley project," he said. "Given the significant investment that Rio Tinto have made to the refining process in Gladstone, I'd urge the federal Environment Minister to get behind South of...
Mining company Sociedade Mineira de Investimentos Bauxite Angola is interested in the possibility of new shareholders, in order to boost its share capital, says mining engineer Guilherme António. Macauhub News Agency reports that António, who gave the information to Angolan news agency Angop, said that finding new shareholders was one of the reasons that the company had taken part in the Angolan International Mining Fair (FIMA) in the Angolan capital. António added that the company had made use of the fair to publicise its mining operations and investments in a number of areas. It had mining rights for bauxite in Guinea Bissau, as well as concessions for bauxite prospecting in Angola and Guinea Conakry. Another technician from the company, engineer Manuel Valentim, said that indications...
Voicing concern over the fate of workers due to shutting down of the refinery of Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) in Kalahandi district, a senior BJP leader today asked the Odisha government to arrange bauxite from some source for the resumption of operation of the alumina plant. "Shut down of refinery at Lanjigarh two days ago due to acute scarcity of bauxite has come as a blow to about 3,500 workers engaged in the plant as their livelihood is now at stake," BJP leader and former Odisha Minister Pradipta Nayak told reporters here. In the interest of workers and others associated with the plant indirectly, the state government must take steps to provide raw material to VAL from some source, including a bauxite reserve, he said. After successfully operating its refinery for seven long years...
A day after shutting down its bauxite refining unit at Lanjigarh temporarily citing unavailability of bauxite ore, Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), has said it can hardly run its smelter facility at Jharsuguda for a month in the absence of enough alumina to run the plant. “Amid raw material supply problems, we can run the smelter plant hardly by a month or so,” said an official of VAL smelter plant. The company has invested in two greenfield aluminium smelting plants at Jharsuguda. While the first smelter with a capacity of 0.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) capacity is producing aluminium using alumina processed at Lanjigarh, the work on the second smelter with 1.1 mtpa capacity is currently on. With the Lanjigarh refinery now shut down, the fate of the aluminium smelter at Jharsuguda is...
The Nawailevu landowners of Bua in Fiji's northern island will receive over 600,000 Fiji dollars ($340, 000) next year in relation to bauxite mining after receiving their first lump sum payment from a Chinese company earlier this year. Acting Permanent Secretary for Lands and Mineral Resources Tevita Boseiwaqa said Friday the landowning unit will be getting their payment according to their agreement with the Aurum Explorations of China. The export of bauxite to China is expected to make Fiji at least $22 million a year and the head of the Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources says other countries are showing interest in importing the mineral. According to the ministry's Permanent Secretary Filimone Kau, the first shipment was being loaded and would carry about 60,000 tons of bauxite to...
THE three bauxite shipments from Bua have brought back more than $8million within a span of four months following the first shipment in June. The fourth ship, currently being loaded at the qoliqoli of Navakasiga, will leave Fiji tomorrow and a fifth ship is already anchored in the same area. Mine manager Basilio Vanuaca said the operations at the mine have been a success with loading and exporting of bauxite happening on time. "So far all has been good and the workers are being well looked after too," he said. "Each ship of bauxite going back to China carries 70,000 tonnes and we're working day and night to fill the ship as we have two ships at the moment." The bauxite mine is projected to rake in about $25m per year from the expected 12 shipments of bauxite bound for China. The monthly...
The Green Bench of the Supreme Court resumes hearing Friday on the high-profile case involving mining of bauxite ore in the the Niyamgiri hills of the impoverished Kalahandi district of Odisha. In a writ petition, the state-run Orissa Mining Corp challenged the orders of the union ministry of environment and forests that cancelled the approvals, even though they were granted via two judgments and 32 strict conditions that, they said, were being complied with. In the previous hearing last Friday, counsel for Orissa Mining Corp, K.K. Venugopal, even charged former minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh with contempt of court for undermining the powers of the judiciary. Industry circles are watching the case closely, since it could have a bearing not just on similar cases of...
