Western Australia's bauxite mines may bring positive results for Abbott govt

‘Mini-mining boom’ – It is what the struggling Australian Government is looking for in the year 2014. When given a choice to them where they would want it to happen, their first choice would be undoubtedly Western Australia.

Indonesia has supplied China with about 25% of bauxite and it has resulted in the country’s smelting capacity taking a rise from 10 to 50 percent. With the mineral export ban in progress, China will have to search for new seaborne bauxite supplies. This is where Western Australia can be a real help.

According to sources, Bauxite resources in Perth have been out for some time to convince the investor about their authenticity. They want their investors to believe that they are the best when it comes to exporting bauxite. The south-west bauxite region in Western Australia is covered by 2 metres of top-soil. Since decades it has been a common practice among miners to put the soil to one side and then replace it when they have extracted the resource. This makes lease negotiation easy with farmers.

With the Indonesia mineral export ban in progress and bauxite prices going high, it will be quite an economical deal for Australia to cover 4000 miles and export ore to China. Exports to Africa will require covering 11,000 miles.

The ongoing urbanization of China requires more aluminium for construction purpose since about one-third of the total country’s consumption is in construction work. This is indeed good news for the Australian Government.

The Indonesian ban has opened new doors for both the state and federal Coalition government in Australia giving them huge scope of business with the world’s largest aluminium producer.