International Responsible Business Conduct (IRBC) has completed a project examining aluminium and bauxite supply chains to improve transparency and traceability in materials supporting the renewable energy transition. The project brought together wind energy company Siemens Gamesa, Dutch cable manufacturer TKF, Digital Product Passport (DPP) technology provider Minespider, and project partner Responsible Trade. The initiative mapped selected upstream aluminium and bauxite supply chains and tested secure DPPs to organise and present traceability and sustainability information across multiple supplier tiers. Explore the production, demand and consumption forecasts of bauxite and alumina in our report: " Global Bauxite & Alumina Market Forecast to 2036: Supply–Demand, Trade Flows & Price...
Mount Ridley Mines has reported 94.9 per cent gallium recovery from a third-party bauxite sample using its patent-pending Selectro process, alongside recoveries of 92 per cent aluminium and 97 per cent iron in a single low-temperature leach. The test also produced a silica-rich residue instead of conventional red mud, highlighting the technology’s potential to recover multiple metals from bauxite through one processing route. The sample was provided by Australian Silica Quartz Group from its Darling Range bauxite project in Western Australia. It comprised material collected from 16 vacuum drill samples across four holes at the Athena and Ceres prospects. Containing 80 parts per million of gallium, the sample yielded an extraction rate of 94.9 per cent into solution. Mount Ridley said this...
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The GDP of Switzerland generated by the service sector stands around 74% and 25% by the industrial sector. The contribution of the agricultural sector is less than 1%. The European Union (EU) is Switzerland's main trading partner. Around 78% of Swiss imports are from the EU, while 43% of Swiss exports are destined for EU countries. Bauxite importation of Switzerland has been recorded at 28,545 tonnes during 2017-19; with expenditures for bauxite, import has remained at $2.66 million during the same phase. The import for 2020 is overall expected to be around 10,369 tonnes and the expenditures to stay at $0.53 million. However, when the export volume and expenditures for Bauxite import for 2020 gets piled up with the existing three years, it denotes 38,914 tonnes and $3.19 million...
Michael Ernest Ansah, CEO, Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) said: “Government intends involving a substantial percentage of Ghanaian companies in the execution of projects under the Sinohydro deal.” However, there have been concerns that the majority of Sinohydro projects will be executed by Chinese nationals, given the country’s involvement in the deal. The Tamale Interchange Project has been pulled up as a case in point, which was largely executed by Chinese nationals, raising concerns over how the deal will tackle unemployment in Ghana. Mr Ansah said: “Subsequent projects will see more involvement of Ghanaian companies.” “These projects have commenced. We are going to see more local content. The involvement of locals will be more than 30%. More Ghanaians will...
Last week, on August 20, Australian Bauxite Limited (ABx) announced that it completed the shipment of its most recent sale of 33,405 tonnes of cement-grade bauxite from Bald Hill bauxite mine near Campbell Town, Tasmania. The firm said the loading at the Bell Bay port commenced on Monday, August 17, after the shipment arrived from the Ball Hill bauxite mine. Loading completed on Wednesday evening and ship departed a few hours later. ABx reported the port operations complete in a timely manner. However, the destination for the just-laden vessel remained unknown. ABx acknowledged the professionalism and teamwork of QUBE Ports stevedore services, Monson Shipping agents, Briar Maritime ship surveys and TasPorts that made it happen. Despite the COVID-19 outbreak and ensuing slowdowns in...
The global bauxite production for 2020 has been predicted to shrink by 0.1%, to 344 mt, as per the UK headquartered data analytics and consulting company GlobalData, production is hardly affected by the interim halt of mines due to COVID-19 epidemic. GlobalData stated that the production in Australia is anticipated to rise by 1.9% to 107.2kt this year, accounting for almost a third of the global total. Australia, World’s largest producer of bauxite, Australia, also produces aluminium and steps up to focus at containing the spread of COVID-19 across the country’s mining regions expressed that bauxite operations have been marginally affected by COVID-19 disruptions. Australia’s largest bauxite mining firm Rio Tinto, reported production of 24.8Mt of bauxite in H1 2020, which reflects up by...
The Russian aluminium company Rusal has reportedly expressed an interest in reopening its Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc., the operations of which was suspended in February 2021, resulting in hundreds of layoffs, citing industrial unrest and damage to property. On Monday, the company’s Country Representative and General Manager Mr Vladimir Permyakov met with a team of ministers and other government officials on recommencing its bauxite operations. They have been asked to submit a report with valid plans to return to viability given its interest in future investment. During the meeting, Rusal pointed out several labour-related issues that they faced earlier, such as the Upper Berbice River block, which was a hindrance to the access to conduct critical works in the mine. “They stressed also...
Hindalco Industries Ltd., a global leader in Aluminium, has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with UltraTech Cement Ltd., part of the same group and India’s largest manufacturer of cement and concrete, to deliver 1.2 million tonnes of red mud (also known as bauxite residue) annually to UltraTech’s 14 plants located across 7 states. Hindalco is the world’s first company to achieve 100% red mud utilisation across three of its refineries. Red mud generated in the alumina manufacturing process is rich in iron oxides, along with alumina, silica and alkali. The cement industry has developed the capability to process red mud as a replacement for mined minerals such as laterite and lithomarge in its process. Hindalco is supplying red mud to UltraTech Cement plants where it has proved to...
Emirates Global Aluminium, today, August 19, has marked a year since its first bauxite export from wholly-owned mining subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation. In last one year, EGA has exported over 6.1 million dry metric tonnes of bauxite ore to customers around the world, while maintaining a world-class safety performance. Guinea Alumina Corporation is now on track to ramp up to full production of nearly 12 million tonnes per annum by the end of 2020. The start-up of GAC in August 2019 and the first production at EGA’s alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi earlier in 2019 completed EGA’s strategic expansion in the upstream aluminium sector. Currently, throughout the ramp-up, GAC is focusing on safety. There have been no injuries leading to time off work in operations so far. GAC’s total...
Hydro has paused operation of 244 kilometer long pipeline transporting bauxite from Hydro’s Paragominas bauxite mine to the Alunorte alumina refinery for extended maintenance, temporarily suspending production at the mine. Hydro had scheduled the replacement of two sections of the pipeline in Q3 and Q4 of 2020, as part of the long-term maintenance plan for the pipeline. During the planned maintenance work in Q3, it was discovered that a section of the pipeline had deteriorated faster than expected. Based on a technical assessment, it was decided today to extend the maintenance and replace this section of the pipeline earlier than initially scheduled. The halt in bauxite supply will effect in curtailment of production at Alunorte alumina refinery which is considered as the world’s largest...
Joseph Hamilton, Guyana’s Minister for Labour on 17 th August’20 has prepared to lead a government delegation into talks with RUSAL. The Minister pledged RUSAL and other companies that they must allow workers from being represented by trade unions. Hamilton said: “Workers will not be denied their right to form representative organisations or to be represented by union or unions of their choice. That is the policy position of the Ministry and the policy position of the government.” Joseph Hamilton pledged to abide by Guyana’s constitution and law in dealing with workers’ rights. The Labour Minister and officials of the Ministry of Natural Resources are due to discuss whether the RUSAL-controlled Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc. (BCGI) would be restarting operations at its Upper Berbice River...
Metro Mining Limited has announced that it is moving into the planned 2020 wet season shutdown earlier than usual. The decision has been made given the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 which continues to have an adverse impact on the market demand and price in the aluminium industry. Mining at the Bauxite Hills Mine in Queensland has already started to ease off and shipping is expected to stop earlier than usual in mid-September until April 2021, said the company in a statement. Metro reasoned that the travel restrictions hampered the company’s ability to finalise offtake contracts. “We are extremely disappointed that despite a record performance from the teams on-site, and the efforts of our marketing team we have been unable to secure further sales that would have meant a very successful...
Metro Mining provides production and shipping results for July 2020. The company’s July mining was slightly ahead of budget and in line with performance achieved year to date. Metro Mining produced 501,000 wet metric tonnes (WMT) of bauxite in July, down from 505,000 tonnes in June. The year-to-date production came in at 1.92 million tonnes. The company’s July bauxite shipments stood at 456,000 WMT. The year-to-date shipments came in at 1.7 million WMT. Bauxite mined per day was 16,170 WMT. Shipment per day stood at 14,714 WMT in July. “Shipping was marginally down due to two days lost as a result of a belt replacement on the barge loading facility and some downtime as a result of unusually high swell conditions for this time of year.” Metro Mining Managing Director & Chief Executive...
According to a recent report, Canyon Resources Limited has announced a maiden JORC 2012 ore reserve for its Minim Martap Bauxite Project in Cameroon, West Africa. The reserve is estimated to have 97.3 million tonnes of ore at 51.1 per cent alumina and 2.3 per cent silica. This ore is based on the pre-feasibility study (PFS), which Canyon completed in early July. The company then confirmed project’s ability to produce high-quality, low-contaminant bauxite over a long mine life of at least 20 years via a multi-stage development. Mine will start with a production rate of four million tonnes per annum for two years. "The maiden ore reserve for the Minim Martap Project is the culmination of a great deal of work from all our teams around the world and sets the scene for the next exciting phase...
Slovakia is considered a high-income advanced economy and has a mixed economic system in which there is a variety of private freedom, combined with centralized economic planning and government regulation. Slovakia is a member of the European Union. The major industries of the nation are heavy engineering, armaments, automobiles, iron and steel production, nonferrous metals, and chemicals. Bauxite import of the European nation has remained unstable during 2017-19, as the export volume stood at 27,325 tonnes and revenue expenditure stood at $9.05 million. The estimated export for 2020 has been analysed at 4685 tonnes and the expenditure to remain at $1.44 million. However, when the analysed export volume and expenditure of 2020 gets summed with the existing three years it depicts 32,010...
Metro Mining planned to shutdown Bauxite Hills mine for wet season if further sales cannot be concluded in the next month. The company has not sold bauxite for 2020 outside the foundation Xinfa contract. “Negotiations with refineries continue to advance, however no further bauxite has been sold for 2020 outside the foundation Xinfa contract,” the company said. “It is likely the period of closure would extend from mid-September through to April 2021 when deliveries into existing Xinfa contract would recommence (2.3M WMT sold). However, the mine could reopen in 2020 if justified by further sales.” “The strong operational performance in early 2020 has delivered robust cashflows leaving Metro in a good financial position.” The company produced and shipped 1,419k wet metric tonnes (WMT) and...
Fitch Solutions Country Risk and Industry Research says: “New projects coming on line in key producers Guinea, Indonesia and Australia, as well as a ramp-up in Indian and Indonesian production, will drive rapid production growth of bauxite in 2021.” The bauxite mining sector of Australia anticipates towards maintaining steady output growth, braced by a solid project pipeline. The country holds 12 of the 29 new projects in Fitch’s Key Mines Projects Database, the utmost in any country. Bauxite accounts for less than 5% of Australian mining value, whereas, the country ranks as the global top producer, accounting for an estimated 28.8% of global output as of 2018. The country is projected to remain a top bauxite exporter to China, although it may lose some market share over the coming...
The West African country, Guinea ranks as the world’s second-largest bauxite exporter, as said by Ibrahima Kassory Fofana, Prime Minister on 5 th July’20, during the occasion of the launch of the national convention of the People's Rally of Guinea. According to Kassory Fofana: In the last ten years of mining governance during which structural reforms were undertaken, the country has experienced a greater economic boom with more than 10 billion US dollars of investment in the sector.” He also said: “In the mining sector, more than 17,000 direct jobs and more than 50,000 indirect jobs have been created for the workforce.” As the mining sector overspread, its effect also experienced in the energy sector with considerable investments. The Prime Minister thanked the economic and financial...
Italy is a developed nation with extensive infrastructure, a rich cultural history, and control over several exports. Italy's manufacturing industry is very well-developed, and it is ranked sixth in the world. The nation is a significant producer of industrial minerals. The Bauxite exportation market of Italy during 2017-19 exhibited growth, but remained non-potential, as the export volume stood at 37,441 tonnes and the revenue earnings remained at $2.67 million. The export for 2020 has been estimated with an export volume of 11,365 tonnes and the revenue generation to reach $1.06 million. When the analysed export volume and earnings of 2020 get assorted with the existing three years it depicts 48,806 tonnes and $3.73 million respectively. Italy’s bauxite exportation during 2017 has been...
The country's top seven industries in order are steel, coal, iron ore, lead, zinc, manganese and aluminium. Mining output, which accounted for more than 10% of industrial production, rose by 10.4% in 2000. Bosnia and Herzegovina was a major centre for metallurgical industries in the former Yugoslavia and a major producer of bauxite, alumina, and aluminium. Bosnia-Herzegovina has a transitional economy with limited market reforms. The economy relies heavily on the export of metals, energy, textiles, and furniture as well as on remittances and foreign aid. The Southern European nation’s bauxite export during 2017-19 reflects growth, as the export volume stands at 68,539 tonnes and revenue earning remained at $2.25 million. The forecasted export for 2020 has been earmarked at 33,159 tonnes...
