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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Noranda Bauxite has secured an agreement with the University & Allied Workers Union (UAWU) on a new labour contract that governs the terms and conditions of employment for UAWU members through April 30, 2023. The agreement with UAWU reached pinnacle for the conclusion of all of Noranda Bauxite’s Union contracts, with the company having outstretched agreements earlier in 2019 with the Bustamente Industrial Trade Union (BITU) through December 31, 2021, and with the Union of Technical, Administrative and Supervisory Personnel (UTASP) through December 31, 2022. “Our workforce is the backbone of our operations here in Jamaica,” said Delroy Dell, Noranda Bauxite’s General Manager. “The negotiations were tough but fair, and we are proud to work cooperatively with these Unions to strengthen our...
Last week, on December 23, Metro Mining Limited reportedly achieved its 2019 upper-end guidance by completing the production of 274,000 wet metric tonnes (WMT) bauxite and shipments 286,000 wet metric tonnes (WMT), after loading the 56th and final vessel for the year. In October and November, the company produced 479,000 WMT and 452,000 WMT of bauxite and shipped 504,000 WMT and 463,000 WMT respectively, which brought the total production and shipments to 1.20 million wet metric tonnes and 1.25 million wet metric tonnes for Q4 2019. Up until December 23, Metro Mining’s total bauxite production and shipments amounted to 3.505 million WMT and 3.504 million WMT, which enabled the Australia-based exploration and mining company to achieve its 2019 production and shipment guidance of 3.3...
The supply of power to Hydro’s Paragominas bauxite mine has been recommenced, which is allowing production to start again. Production at Hydro’s Alunorte alumina refinery has also been boosted. A transmission tower overturned on 18 th December’19, suspending power supply to Paragominas, which caused a temporary halt in the production at the mine. The transmission tower has been restored, and the power supply is resumed. There was no news of casualties or personnel injuries and damages to other production assets or any consequences at the nearby environment-related due to the power blackout. The financial and operational impact has been restricted, and no sign of negative customer impact anticipated.
The year 2019 saw an increase in bauxite production all over the globe, bolstered by expansions in mining and also some of the new projects such as EGA’s first bauxite project in Guinea, Rio Tinto’s commissioning of Amrun bauxite mine, and the beginning of mining and screening operations at Australian Bauxite Limited’s Bald Hill mine. But due to the surplus production, the global price of the ore remained sluggish, which on the other hand, helped in boosting China’s bauxite imports. As a consequence to this, the demand and use of China’s domestic bauxite ore saw a slow down and the price followed a downward trend throughout the year. Let us recapitulate the bauxite market of 2019 in more details, starting with the price trend, followed by projects, production, and shipments. Price trend...
China Customs data showed a rise in China’s bauxite imports during November, followed by three consecutive months of downfall. Recording a growth of 11.38 per cent from a month ago and 21.9 per cent from the same period last year, the amount of import rebounded to 7.21 million tonnes. In October, around 6.48 million tonnes of bauxite were imported by China, down 3.97 per cent from 6.75 million tonnes in September. The total amount of import in the eleven months of the year came to 91.83 million tonnes, down 8.34 per cent from the same period last year. Australia, the Republic of Guinea, and Indonesia remained the top three bauxite exporters to China in the month of November, with their combined volume accounting for 92.03 per cent of the total. While Australia exported 3.28 million...
Rocktree Consulting, a leading provider of marine dry-bulk cargo handling and delivery solutions, has reportedly finished the front-end engineering and design (FEED) of a new floating transhipment terminal for bauxite export from Australia’s Bauxite Hills Mine to China. The terminal is expected to boost Metro Mining’s bauxite export further to 6 million tonnes by 2021. On completion, the terminal will have a maximum loading capacity of 3,000 tonnes of bauxite per hour. It will be 100 metre long, 30 metre wide, and 5.5 metre in draught, and will be used to load vessels with the help of a telescopic ship loader and an array of transhipment systems to transport bauxite. Metro Mining managing director and CEO Simon Finnis said, “The completion of the feasibility study and selection of...
The National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) was allotted the Pottangi bauxite mines in Koraput district after the public hearing for environment clearance approved the mining project. Thousands of villagers around Pottangi block attended the meeting and expressed their support for the project. The hearing was held as a part of the statutory conditions for getting mining rights. Present and past members of Parliament of Koraput and others were also present in the meeting. For the company’s expansion plans this additional source of bauxite is essential. Pottangi bauxite mine will have a production capacity of 3.5 MTPA. The mining lease is expected to benefit and contribute for the development of Pottangi and adjoining areas. A press release says that apart from infrastructure...
Hydro announced that Paragominas bauxite mine in Brazil temporarily halted the production following a power outage on December 18. Regular power supply to the bauxite mine is expected to resume within 5-10 days. After the power outage, Hydro temporarily cut the production capacity of Alunorte alumina refinery by around 50-70% to prolong the lifetime of the bauxite inventories. “On December 18, a transmission tower overturned, ceasing power supply to Hydro’s Paragominas bauxite mine in Brazil, temporarily halting the production at the mine. Regular power supply to Paragominas is expected to resume within 5-10 days,” according to Hydro press release. “The 244 km bauxite pipeline going from Paragominas to Alunorte has been emptied using back-up power. There were no personnel injuries or...
Metro Mining Limited is reportedly refinancing its current debt facilities to enable the $47.5 million loan from North Australian Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) to be senior secured first-ranking. This loan is part of the funding package for Metro Mining's Stage 2 expansion at Bauxite Hills Mine in Queensland. As per the report, Metro will make an early repayment of the existing Sprott Private Resource Lending loan totalling US$9.65 million along with its accrued interest and enter into new loan facilities of $15 million with the existing lender Ingatatus AG and the new lender Lambhill Pty Ltd. The new facilities will have to be repaid in three equal payments on July 1, 2021, September 30, 2021, and January 1, 2022. Metro Mining managing director Simon Finnis said, “We are delighted to...
According to Indian media report, the district administration of Koraput in Odisha, India would conduct an important public hearing on the proposed bauxite mining by Nalco in Pottangi block today. The public hearing on bauxite mining will allow villagers of the area around Pottangi block to put up their views. The hearing will take place at the stadium ground and the administration has invited villagers of Khudi and Sorispadar panchayats under Semiliguda and Kotia, Pottangi, Maliput and Nuagam in Pottangi block for the occasion. The results of the meeting will decide the future course for bauxite mining in Pottangi. Nalco, one of the lowest cost bauxite and alumina producers has been exploring bauxite from Panchapatamali mines in Damanjodi since the last 38 years. Nalco had proposed the...
According to a recent report, Australian Bauxite Limited (ABx) announced today, on December 16, that it would lodge a mining lease application early next year and if approved, it would ship unrefined bauxite produced at Binjour bauxite project from the port of Bundaberg in bulk tonnages. “A mining lease application will be lodged in early 2020, commencing with pre-lodgement discussions with government departments as soon as practicable,” the company said. Australian Bauxite has a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Port of Bundaberg to investigate the opportunity to export bauxite in bulk tonnages through the port. ABL considers its Binjour bauxite project to be the best source of gibbsite-trihydrate (THA) metallurgical grade bauxite in Queensland, which is ideal for...
Greece is the third-largest destination for Turkey’s bauxite exports after the United States and China. With the year-on-year growth in Turkey’s total bauxite exports, the country’s exports to Greece have also been found growing over the years. According to the international trade, Turkey’s bauxite exports to Greece in 2019 is likely to come in at 143,378 tonnes, after recording a rise of 16 per cent from 123,427 tonnes in 2018. In 2017, the export amount by Turkey was 85,020 tonnes, which indicates the fact that the country in 2018 had witnessed a significant year-on-year growth of 45 per cent in its bauxite exports to Greece. Along with the growth in the export volume, Turkey’s earnings from bauxite exports to Greece have also been growing, and 2019 is expected to be of no exception....
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry of Indonesia has lowered its projections for nickel and bauxite smelter construction by 2022 due to shortfalls in investment. Indonesia’s government in September expedited the nickel ore export ban by two years to January 2020 from 2022 as part of its efforts to boost expansion of a local smelting industry. The government may consider accelerating an export ban on bauxite and other mineral items, depending on the scale of investment. Under the current rules, exports of bauxite are allowed till January 11, 2022. The export ban, which was in place since 2014, was revoked in 2017 for a period of five years (until 2022) to give time to domestic miners to build their smelters to process minerals such as nickel, bauxite and copper. Indonesia’s Minister...
The Australian exploration and mining company Metro Mining Limited announced another strong monthly performance for November, and with that a step closer to the production guidance of 2019. According to the performance report, the company produced 452,000 wet metric tonnes (WMT) of bauxite in November and shipped 463,000 wet metric tonnes (WMT). Metro Mining Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Simon Finnis, said: “This is another very pleasing result for the team, both on and off-site. We are on target to meet the upper end of guidance. “It has been a very successful operational year and I am extremely proud of the effort and performance of the Metro team and our contracting partners.” Up until November 30, Metro Mining’s total amount of bauxite production and shipment came in...
The Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation has assured that bauxite reserves in the Atewa Forest will not destruct the water bodies that source from the reserve. The three rivers, Birim, Densu and Ayensu provide drinking water to more than five million Ghanaians. Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Wednesday, Michael Ansah, GIADEC’s CEO said bauxite mining will not be carried out close to the three rivers and endanger the water bodies. “If you look at the map of the mining concessions, where they [the three rivers] will be, for the Birim and Ayensu, their sources will be about 10 km from the points of these mining while the Densu’s will be 15 miles away,” he said. According to him, their mining is in line with best prevailing practices. The government has signed the...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, Indonesia’s alumina producer PT Well Harvest Winning (WHW) and Jakarta-based mining firm PT Cita Mineral Investindo (CITA) signed a bauxite supply agreement on December 3. This was confirmed by China Hongqiao Group, which owns 56% stake in WHW. Cita Mineral owns 30% stake in WHM. The 14 years’ deal between both the companies will expire on December 31, 2033. CITA shall sell and deliver, or procure the sale and delivery of bauxite to WHW. An earlier report in November said that WHW plans to expand a second line production in West Kalimantan. The company, which is in operation since January 2016 produced one million tonnes of alumina in 2018 and expects to cross one million production mark in 2019. The major part of WHW’s alumina exports is shipped to...
Perth based Lindian Resources has announced that the bauxite ore body of its Gaoual bauxite project in northwest Guinea is significantly larger than they expected. This was confirmed by the surface mapping conducted by the company's geological expert, Mark Gifford, and project geologist, Hashimu Millanga. The company says its high grade Bouba “conglomerate” bauxite target now extends around a kilometre further to the north than the initial estimate of 1.5km. Lindian is planning a two-stage drilling program for the project with two key targets - Bouba and Mamaya. Lindian Managing Director Shannon Green said: “The geologists identifying that the areal extent of the Bouba Conglomerate Bauxite Plateau could potentially be significantly larger than initially identified puts Lindian Resources...
As updated by Shanghai Metals Market, China’s imports of bauxite continued to fall for the third straight month. China imported 6.48 million tonnes of bauxite in October as compared to 6.75 million tonnes in September. Bauxite imports declined by 3.97% month-on-month and 6.01% year-on-year, according to China Customs data under HS code 26060000. This decline in China’s import is due to a plunge in the volume from the major supplier, the Republic of Guinea, as it entered a rainy season in July. Source: Shanghai Metals Market In the first ten months of 2019, imports of bauxite increased by 18.4% compared with the same period last year. Imports stood at 84.62 million tonnes. Australia, Guinea, and Indonesia remained the top three bauxite suppliers in October. The three countries together...
