Rio Tinto’s planned USD 1.9 billion investment in the Kangwinan bauxite project is expected to support more than 1,300 construction jobs in Queensland, while helping secure the long-term future of its Weipa mining operations as existing sources of production approach the end of their lives. Located on Western Cape York Peninsula, Kangwinan will add 20 million tonnes of annual bauxite production capacity, with first output targeted for 2029 and full production expected by 2032. The project will raise Weipa Operations’ annual capacity to around 44 million tonnes from current production of approximately 38 million tonnes. Construction is scheduled to ramp up in 2027. Beyond the immediate employment boost, the investment is expected to help sustain Rio Tinto’s residentially based workforce of...
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...
Grow with
AL Circle
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) announced it has received first shipment of 61,450 tonnes of bauxite from Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée for the commissioning of its under-construction Al Taweelah alumina refinery. Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée will supply some five million tonnes of bauxite each year once the alumina refinery is at full production. Image Source: EGA Abdulla Kalban, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said: “Alumina refining will be a new industrial activity for the UAE, so this shipment of bauxite is the first ever to our country. Thousands of people are currently working hard to bring the construction of Al Taweelah alumina refinery to completion, and we look forward to producing our first alumina during the first half of next year.” More than...
Australian Bauxite Limited (ABx) advised the global market yesterday that the reserves at the Binjour Project site are now estimated to total 37 million metric tons, 51 percent above previous estimates for the project. ABx says the results are gleaned from samples taken from over nine hundred drill holes across three quarters of the 44 km 2 Binjour Plateau. Per the tests, the site is covered by a layer of bauxite between 3 and 15 meters in thickness, with about 10.4 million metric tons suitable for bulk shipping and mining, while another 26.6 million metric tons are infused with bands of silica gel, requiring processing. The firm says that scheduling and planning for the mine is currently underway, with the aim of finding the optimal amount of mining and processing required to bring the...
Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest metals and mining corporations, has reported the receipt of vital infrastructure pieces for its US$2.6 billion Amrun bauxite project on Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. The infrastructure pieces include 550t stacker and 1700t reclaimer, which arrived after 16 months of fabrication in Western Australia and a nine-day voyage to the Far North Queensland site. Rio Tinto Amrun project general manager Marcia Hanrahan said, “The infrastructure has created employment on both sides of Australia with fabrication and part-commissioning of the modules generating 150 jobs for West Australians and 100 jobs for Queenslanders, who will construct and fully commission the units now they have arrived at site.” The shiploader, final piece of infrastructure outstanding...
Sanctions-hit Russian aluminium giant Rusal has started exporting bauxite from the Dian-Dian bauxite deposit in Guinea’s Boké Province. The exports follow the completion of the first stage of development of the bauxite deposit. With an annual capacity of 3 million tonnes, Dian-Dian is the world's largest bauxite deposit with proven reserves of 564 million tonnes. The company produced 3.1 million tonnes of bauxite in Guinea last year. The company has built the entire associated infrastructure to serve the mine (in particular, roads and a railway line) for the transportation and storage of ore. Yakov Itskov, Director of the Alumina Division at Rusal, said:“For the last fifteen years RUSAL has remained one of the largest investors in the economy of Guinea. The mutually beneficial nature of...
Metro Mining Ltd. has received an approval for a trading halt as it sets a target to raise US$17.5 million through a share placement priced at 20 cents. Funding from the placement is likely to boost Metro’s working capital position during production ramp-up and product sale negotiations while increasing balance sheet strength and flexibility. Earlier this month, on having the first two shipments of bauxite successfully arrived in China, Metro Mining received the first payment from off-take partner Xinfa Group. Xinfa is one of China’s largest integrated aluminium companies, with significant refining and smelting operations across multiple provinces. With successful delivery of the shipments to Xinfa as planned, Metro experienced increasing buying interest for bauxite from its Bauxite Hills...
First Bauxite Corporation said that it has secured a second bridge loan for its Bonasika Bauxite Project located in Guyana. Resource Capital Fund VI L.P. (RCF VI) will provide additional financing under a second bridge loan facility to the company in the principal amount of up to US$10 million. The company has started the construction of Bonasika Project using proceeds from the second bridge loan facility. First Bauxite has notified the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission that proceeds of the second bridge loan will be used for the construction of its mine and processing operations at its project. “The Company is committed to improvements to local infrastructure and keeping Guyana working. Initial construction activity is expected to include improvements in local infrastructure including...
According to the latest USGS release on Bauxite and Alumina in the First Quarter 2018 , imports of crude and dried bauxite by the U.S. in Q1 2018 were 651,000 tonnes, 28% less than the total of 910,000 tonnes in the fourth quarter of 2017. However, on a YoY basis, import of bauxite drops 18% than those in the first quarter of 2017 and 57% less than those in the first quarter of 2016. When we look at the graph we, see that the imports of crude and dried bauxite by the U.S. have been on a downward trend since the first quarter of 2016. After reaching the lowest in the second quarter of 2017, the import increased in the third and fourth quarter of 2017. Crude and dried bauxite imports in 2017 were 3.43 million tons, 32% less than about 5 million tonnes in 2016 and 68% less than those in...
According to the report by Reuters, Aluminium Corp of China (Chalco) has signed an agreement with Guinea government, on June 8 in Conakry, to develop the Boffa bauxite project in the west of the country. According to the agreement signed, Chalco Guinea Company would be granted mining licenses for the Boffa North and Boffa South Blocks for 15 years and would be open to renewal for next 15 years on expiry. Chalco must transfer 15 per cent of shares in Chalco Guinea Company to the Guinea government with 10 business days, while Guinea has option to increase interest up to 35 per cent. The project holds around 1.75 billion tonnes of bauxite, with an estimated annual production of 12 million tonnes, which is expected to start by the end of 2019. The output will go to Chalco alumina refineries...
Ghana Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has assured a new bill to establish that the Ghana Integrated Bauxite and Aluminium Development Authority (GIBADA) is not another mining regulatory body. This assurance came from him when the Minerals Commission Board, led by its Chairman S.K. Boafo, paid a courtesy on him at the Flagstaff House in Accra. While explaining to the board about GIBADA, the Vice-President said the purpose of establishing this body was to promote and facilitate the development of an integrated aluminium industry in Ghana, so that its economy could shift from being dependent only on the production and exports of raw materials to an industrialised, value added one. Bawumia said the Minerals Commission will continue upholding its regulatory mandate established under the...
Rio Tinto has signed a joint venture agreement with Minmetals to explore mineral deposits in China. The 50:50 joint venture follows a technical collaboration contract signed in November 2017 when both companies committed to a collaborative partnership in mineral exploration. Rio Tinto chief executive J-S Jacques said, "The formalisation of the exploration joint venture is an important milestone in our growing partnership with China and Minmetals, who is an increasingly important player in the global mining industry. Our complementary strengths in exploration put us in the best possible position to find metals and minerals essential to human progress." The registered capital of the joint venture will be RMB200 million (US$31.3 million) with initial contributions of RMB35 million (US$5.5...
As confirmed by some trusted sources, Indian operators are going to relaunch the long-awaited Cameroon Alumina Limited’s (CAL) bauxite mining project. It’s been over years now this plan was proposed to set up a Greenfield project involving bauxite mining, a 3 million-tonnes-per-annum alumina refinery, and associated infrastructure, backed on the bauxite deposits of Ngaoundal and Minim-Martap in the Adamawa region of Cameroon. However, not much detail on this update is known yet. According to the sources, this topic was discussed on May 30, 2018, during the audience granted to Ravi Kumar, the Indian consul in Cameroon, by Ernest Gbwaboubou. During the meeting, the consul expressed that its partners Indostand Aluminium, Dubai Aluminium and Hydromines, the Indian company Hindalco were...
Metro Mining happily announced a successful arrival of its first two shipments 123kt bauxite in China and confirmed the receipt of payment from off-take partner Xinfa Group. Xinfa Group, which has a 4-year off-take agreement with Metro, was responsible for handling the delivery of the shipment from the Bauxite Hills mine in Queensland to Shandong in China. With the first successful shipment, Metro is reportedly experiencing an increasing buying interest for bauxite from its Bauxite Hills mine in Queensland. Metro’s managing director and CEO Simon Finnis said, “Receiving first sales revenue is another exciting milestone for Metro and heralds in a new era for us. I’m pleased with our ramp-up and the improvement in mining and loading rates from pit to ship as the commissioning issues are...
Just in four days’ of time after Nalco Chairman and Managing Director Tapan Kumar Chand disclosed the company’s new alumina refinery set up plan, worth INR 7000 crore to INR 12000 crore, in Vishakhapatnam, the company updates that it has revived its proposal. According to the updated news by the Hindu, Nalco has revived the proposal for bauxite mining as well. Nalco had requested the Centre to consider allotment of bauxite mines at Pottangi, located on the Andhra-Odisha border so that it could secure the raw material for its new alumina refinery in Vishakhapatnam from its own mine. Many had an opinion that bauxite mining by Nalco, which is under the Ministry of Mines with a proven track record on employment and CSR activity in Odisha would not come in the way of Samata judgement given by...
Speaking at the African Sovereignty Wealth Funds Summit on Friday, June 1, 2018, Ghana Vice-President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia emphasised that African leaders and businesses should increasingly make the best use of natural resources deposited in the land to create wealth. He said, “Africa has hundreds of billions of dollars locked up in the land, which we have not been able to release because we don’t have a working mortgage market and that is a major asset for Africa that needs to be unleashed.” According to his belief, Africa is blessed with enormous natural resources which can be leveraged to build financial wellbeing in the continent. The old way of giving out mining concessions and taking royalties, in his opinion, would not be the best way to generate wealth from the minerals deposited...
Jamaican Government has announced plans to merge Clarendon Alumina Partners (CAP) and the Jamaica Bauxite Mining Limited. The joint company will be listed in Jamaica Stock Exchange. Jamaica Bauxite Mining owns 51 per cent of the old Kaiser operations. CAP has a 45 per cent stake in bauxite company Jamalco, where Noble Group has a 55% stake. Minister of Transport and Mining Robert Montague said he would be seeking permission from his Cabinet colleagues to sell shares in the entity to the Jamaican people, so that the local community can have an ownership in the company. “This is an offer that the little man, the civil servant, the farmer, the workers, all Jamaicans, both here and abroad, will finally, after over 60 years get a chance of owning a part of the industry,” said Montague during...
On anticipating the shortage of bauxite availability in China within the next three years, Alumina Limited would consider acquiring new bauxite assets. It would even consider ramping up the production capacities of its existing mines. Alumina and its joint venture partner Alcoa have exposure to bauxite assets in Western Australia, Guinea and Brazil. Mike Ferraro, the company’s chief executive, indicated that he would be interested in growing the company’s bauxite output through organic and possibly inorganic means. He told the Australian Financial Review, "We've got bauxite in Western Australia, Guinea and in Brazil and each of those has different advantages and disadvantages, so I think we would certainly look to not only growing organically those mines for third-party exports, but also...
The Australian mining company, AU Capital Mining, co-owned by Pacific Bauxite, has had its exploration licence suspended in the Solomon Islands. Bradley Tovosia, Minister of Mines in Solomon Islands, said the exploration licence was suspended because the company had not had amicable relations with the local communities in Nende. The company last year obtained a license to explore bauxite mining at Nende in the remote eastern province of Temotu. Temotu province of Solomon Islands has been facing growing community unrest over bauxite mining licence and operations. In 2017, Temotu’s former provincial premier, Nelson Omar claimed that his removal from post was because he rejected licenses for mining and logging interests. He had rejected Pacific Bauxite for a business license. "The consent...
Lagune Exploitation Afrique in Ivory Coast reported that it is in talks with a unit of Sumitomo Corp. to build a partnership and develop a bauxite deposit and two alumina plants for 218 billion CFA francs (US$375 million). More details are not available yet other than the fact that Lagune is offering 25 per cent stake in the company. Both the Chief Executive Officer of Lagune Exploitation Afrique, Moumoni Bictogo, and General Manager at Sumimoto’s liaison office for West Africa, Masafumi Tanimoto, have declined to make further comments on the nature of talks between each other. In an interview on Monday, May 28, 2018, at West African nation’s commercial capital Abidjan, Moumouni Bictogo shared; the company is already developing 34.5 million tonnes of Benene deposit in the country’s east,...
