CMP’s new bauxite mine at Xiuwen, Guizhou
which has proven reserves of 3m tonnes. Open
pit mining plus a single adit will initially be used
to produce 100-200,000 tpa of non-met. bauxite.
There is a general misconception that Chinese non-metallurgical grade bauxite output is a separate and specific mining industry to that of metallurgical bauxite.
This is not the case: mining of bauxite in China is completely dominated by the production of bauxite for smelter grade alumina.
As is well documented, Chinese bauxite production for metallurgical purposes has massively increased since the beginning of the new millennium.
In 2000, domestic production of metallurgical grade bauxite was approximately twice the production of non-met., the former being about 8m tonnes and the latter approximately 4m tonnes.
During the past 11 years non-met. production has grown only marginally to 5m tonnes, whereas metallurgical bauxite production has increased to upwards of...