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 Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), an independent non-profit organization dedicated towards improving countries' governance over their natural resources to promote sustainable and inclusive development, publicizes that “Natural resource-backed loans are loans surrounded by secrecy”. These loans are contributing to the debt levels profuse in Africa. NRGI defined it, "a natural resource-backed loan is a mechanism by which a country can access funds in exchange for future flows of income from its natural resources, such as oil or minerals, or in exchange for repayment guarantees made up of these resources”. NRGI investigated 52 natural resources backed-loans made during 2004-2018, amounted to $164 billion. The sub-Saharan African country, Guinea in 2017, concluded a $ 20...
Canyon Resources Limited has appointed senior bauxite executive Rick Smith as Chief Development Officer of the company. Rick Smith will focus on supply chain, offtake and strategic partner negotiations for Canyon’s Minim Martap Bauxite Project in Cameroon. Smith has more than 35 years’ experience in a variety of international locations relating to new markets, business development, exploration, feasibility studies and construction in bauxite and alumina projects. He previously worked as a senior executive for Guinea Alumina Corporation’s (GAC) recently commissioned USD$1.4 billion GAC Bauxite Project in Guinea. Smith said: “The Minim Martap Project in Cameroon is a tier-one bauxite project with global significance. I’m looking forward to joining the Canyon team and applying my learnings...
Jamaica’s opposition People’s National Party (PNP) President, Dr Peter Phillips stated that Jamaicans should calliper for a possibility of shrinkage of the nation’s economy due to the global attack of the deadly “Coronavirus”. The recently released growth data of the Jamaican economy showed 0.1% growth in the final quarter of 2019, which is negligible. Dr Peter Phillips said: “The party is ready to be part of a national response to the threat of coronavirus, and the possible financial fallout which could wipe out a number of countries' economies across the world.” “We are prepared to help to manage the crisis if called upon by the Government. We are willing to work in every area and guide the Government through the economic crisis, crime, and the coronavirus crisis,” Dr Phillips said. In...
Kwasi Amoako-Atta, The Minister of Roads and Highways, Ghana, announced that the epidemic of the deadly Coronavirus in China has pertained a blow to the multibillion-dollar bauxite-for-infrastructure deal. The Chinese Government would allot out US$2 billion to bankroll a lot of infrastructural projects in Ghana in exchange for bauxite. The Roadways minister says: “So far, four out of the ten projects under the deal, have commenced. But the coronavirus outbreak has affected things.” “The officials should have come from China to join us to perform these exercises in relation to the Sinohydro deal because of the manifestation of that deadly coronavirus that certainly has affected a lot of things”. Mr Amoako-Atta, while in his visit to Koforidua, Eastern Region of Ghana, said: “The Chinese...
The discharge ceremony for the first shipment of bauxite from Chinalco’s Boffa bauxite project in Guinea was held in the Rizhao port in Shandong province on 26 th February’20. The company announced that the transportation mission was completed by M.V. QU SHAN HAI under COSCO Shipping bulk, which has marked a new milestone of achievement by Chinalco’s Boffa Project. The ceremony was held online via video conference so as to prevail the standards of COVID-19 prevention and control policies. The relevant executives of COSCO SHIPPING Bulk, CHINALCO, and Shandong Port Group attended the ceremony in Guangzhou, Beijing, and Rizhao, respectively. The successful berthing and cargo discharging of M.V. QU SHAN HAI marked the first achievement made jointly by COSCO SHIPPING and CHINALCO under their...
United Company Rusal has announced its fourth-quarter and full-year results of 2019 ending December 31, revealing that its bauxite production in the fourth quarter stood at 4.026 million tonnes, up 2 per cent from 3.948 million tonnes in the third quarter. In the full year, the company’s bauxite output came in at 16.047 million tonnes, 15.9 per cent higher than 13.847 million tonnes in the previous year. Production of alumina by Rusal grew as well, both in the fourth quarter as well as the full year. Rusal in Q4 2019 produced 2.050 million tonnes of alumina, up 4.7 per cent from 1.957 million tonnes in Q3. In the whole year, their total alumina production came in at 7.858 million tonnes, 1.1 per cent higher than 7.774 million tonnes in 2018. Rusal’s third-party bauxite sales in Q4 were...
The National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), a Government of Guyana holding company, has paid the salaries for February to the 326 workers sacked by the Rusal-owned Bauxite Company of Guyana Inc (BCGI). RUSAL, one of the world’s largest producers of aluminium has suspended its bauxite mining operation in Guyana Lewis Lincoln, the General Secretary of the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) communicated those 326 workers who not being employed for February, the union sought to reach out to the government and requested assistance to lessen the hardships they have been facing. Lincoln also added that the request was granted and workers were paid their monthly pay following their scales.
According to China customs data, the country in the entire year of 2019 imported 100.66 million tonnes of bauxite, compared to 82.57 million tonnes in 2018. This means the year saw an increase of 21.91 per cent in the import volume, exceeding the 100 million tonnes level for the first time. The Republic of Guinea, Australia, and Indonesia remained the top three bauxite exporters to China, accounting for over 94 per cent of China’s bauxite imports in total. From Guinea, China imported 44.45 million tonnes, up 16.49 per cent year-on-year. Imports from Australia expanded 21.08 per cent to 36.04 million tonnes, as demand from refineries in coastal regions in Shandong and Inner Mongolia held stable and that from northwest China such as Chongqing grew. In the future also, the demand for...
The US-based First Bauxite’s subsidiary company Guyana Industrial Minerals Inc. (GINMIN), on 21 st February’20, started its mining operation and processing plant at Bonasika mine, Essequibo Islands-West Demerara region. A $100 million investment assurance can enhance it to a world-class operation. The start of mining exploitation at the Bonasika project marks a noteworthy accomplishment for the organization, which started its pre-mining operation here in 2008. First Bauxite’s Board Chairman Thibault Van Stratum said in brief remarks when he addressed the gathering of workers and special invitees at the commissioning “We will gladly admit that we have taken our time to put this mine in operation but as we say today is the day.” It has been projected that the Bonasika Bauxite Project can...
The President of Ghana H.E. Akufo-Addo announced that by the end of 2020, Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) would decide to enter a joint venture partnership with investors for exploration of Ghana’s bauxite reserves. During the 2020 State of the Nation Address in Parliament on 20 th February’20, he delivered the above words and also said this is a part of the government’s strategy to augment the industrialization agenda of the country. Akufo-Addo communicated “We have decided at long last to explore our bauxite, manganese and iron ore deposits which allow us to establish an integrated bauxite and aluminium industry and iron and steel industry. The Ghana Integrated Bauxite and Aluminum Development Corporation and the Ghana Integrated Iron and Steel Corporation...
The Australian junior mining company Canyon Resources provided the initial results of the final exploration phase, which was launched in September’18 of Minim-Martap and Ngaoundal bauxite deposits in northern Cameroon. Camalco, the Cameroonian subsidiary of Canyon resources, pinpointed 65 bauxite plateaux. Cameroon Alumina (CAL), former licensee of exploration on the Minim-Martap, Ngaoundal and Makan deposits pinpointed 14 bauxite plateaux; this brings the total to 79. According to Camalco, “a more refined analysis of 16 of the 79 identified plateaux increases the potential of the Minim-Martap and Ngaoundal bauxite deposit to 892 million tons. This includes 250 million tons of high-grade bauxite, ideal for aluminium production.” The fresh possibilities which have been projected by Canyon...
Gulkula Mining Company has reportedly received a Performance Standard provisional certification from Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASIS) for its bauxite mine operation on the traditional lands of the Yolngu people in East Arnhem in Australia’s Northern Territory. Gulkula commenced operations in 2017 and delivers all stages of the bauxite mining process, starting from drilling and testing to mine rehabilitation that brings the land back to its original landscape and to the requirements of its Traditional Owners. Gulkula is the first indigenous owned and operated bauxite mine to achieve ASI Certification. Fiona Solomon, Chief Executive Officer at ASI said “ASI warmly congratulates Gulkula Mining Company on their ASI Performance Standard Certification with provisional status. We take...
The long-awaited exploitation of Minim-Martap Bauxite deposit in Northern Cameroon could be started in 2022. This wish has been rendered by the Project Manager, James Durant in Minim on 13 th February’20. The project its hand over by the Cameroonian government to Australian junior mining company Canyon Resources is being implemented by Canyon Resources’ subsidiary Camalco. A little more than a year after Camalco launched (in September 2018) the last phase of research on this mining project, James Durant visited Cameroon from February 13 th to 14 th , 2020. He is accompanied by a team of mining, rail, and environmental logistics experts. These experts came to check the project and finalize the pre-feasibility study of this mining project by the end of April 2020. The team went to...
Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC) has a mining concession of 690 km2, in the region of Boké, a city located in the northwest of Guinea, exactly in the locality of Tinguilinta. To meet the standards of the International Labor Organization and those of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the subsidiary of the company Emirates Global Aluminum relies on skills from the communities affected by the project. Martin Simard, Director of Communication, GAC communicated that 4650 workers were employed at the time of construction work in 2018. He also added 85% were Guineans and 67% are from the locality of Boke. GAC uses a 135 km railway line with the Guinea Bauxite Company (CBG). GAC's first ore export took place in August 2019, after major construction work. From bauxite extraction to...
There are currently five bauxite mines in Australia providing feedstock for the seven alumina refineries, which in turn supply alumina to the six Australian aluminium smelters and the export market. Demand for bauxite is growing at a faster rate than the growth in global industrial production. In the emerging economies of Asia and India, bauxite demand is particularly strong. Australia’s bauxite export has been showing a steady market from 2017-20. The total volume of bauxite export was recorded at 126.16 million tonnes approximately. In 2017 Australia’s bauxite export volume was spotted at 26.34 million tonnes, whereas in 2018 the bauxite export accounted to 30.40 million tonnes in volume, a growth by 15.41%, with an excess volume of 4.06 million tonnes exported from the previous year....
The Netherlands’ bauxite export is tending towards an upswing; total bauxite export volume was recorded at 219,453 tonnes during 2017-20. In 2017 the total bauxite export volume stood at 58,540 tonnes, while in 2018 Netherlands bauxite export volume was recorded at 39,993. A steep fall of 31.68% from previous, by volume the drop stood at 18547 tonnes. The year 2019 showed the bauxite export with a straight rise of 48.77%. The total volume of export was recorded at 59410 tonnes, with 19477 tonnes of excess export when compared to the previous year. The total foreign revenue generated from the bauxite export in 2019 was $17.74 million. The year 2020 has also been projected with a positive trend for bauxite export from the Netherlands. The growth rate for 2020 has been estimated at 3.63%,...
Guinea Alumina Corporation has been honoured with the Project Finance International’s prestigious global “Multilateral Deal of the Year” award for its ground-breaking project financing. The news came after EGA officially announced the receipt of the award by both EGA and GAC’s Management at PFI’s annual awards ceremony in London. GAC in May 2019 closed a US$750 million financing deal to fund the country’s one of the biggest-ever Greenfield mining projects. The loan was for 12 to 14 years tenor funded by International Finance Corporation, The African Development Bank, Export Development Canada, PIDG Ltd’s company The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund, Societe Generale, ING Bank, Natixis, First Abu Dhabi Bank, Emirates NBD and Mashreq Bank. So, this was the first loan in which...
Southern Cross Electrical Engineering has reportedly secured a contract of $18 million to complete refurbishment work at Rio Tinto’s Gove Peninsula bauxite mine in the North East Arnhem Land site. The work also includes isolating and re-routing electrical and hydraulic services to the mine. The Gove Peninsula operations are expected to finish in 2030 after supplying bauxite to the global aluminium industry for more than 40 years. Rio Tinto is preparing for the site closure along with the Traditional Owners, the Yolngu people, and other stakeholders. Rio Tinto is using virtual reality technology to illustrate the rehabilitation process to give insight into the future look of the land and also to give an opportunity to the Traditional Owners to provide feedback. The Gove mine, which in 2018...
