Metro ships one million tonnes of bauxite from Bauxite Hills Mine

Metro Mining has shipped one million tonnes of bauxite from its Bauxite Hills Mine north of Weipa since mining operations commenced. The millionth tonne of bauxite was loaded aboard the bulk carrier ISA OLDENDORFF as part of a 60,000 tonne shipment bound for Metro’s foundation customer Xinfa Group.

Source:Metro Mining

Metro’s Managing Director Simon Finnis said sales have been made to five different Chinese customers and seventeen shipments have sailed since operations began.

Mining operations commenced at the Bauxite Hills Mine on 13 April, 2018.

 “We have sold our total planned production for this year and currently have around 90% of next year’s production also covered,” Mr Finnis said.

 “We are seeing particularly strong demand for our bauxite from refineries located in inland Chinese provinces where supply of domestic bauxite has been hindered by recent mine closures and environmental audits. Our product specifications are well suited to the processing requirements of these refineries.”

Metro is mining at an initial rate of 2Mtpa and, subject to board approval and expansion capital will ramp up to 6Mtpa over the first four years. Government approvals are in place to mine up to 10Mtpa.

“Production at the Bauxite Hills Mine is steadily increasing and given current demand we are actively looking at ways to increase 2019 production above the current planned rates.” Mr Finnis said.

Earlier this month, Metro signed a new binding contract with China’s state-owned State Power Investment Corporation Aluminium and Electric Power Investment Co. Ltd (SPIC) for the delivery of 300,000 WMT of bauxite in calendar year 2018.