Bauxite Behemoths: Biggest Bauxite Producers in the World
Australia
Australia is the world’s biggest bauxite producer, it produced 76.28 million tonnes (Mt) of bauxite in 2012 accounting for about 31% of the world’s output. Recoverable bauxite resources are estimated at 6,280Mt, accounting for 22% of the world’s total, also make Australia the second richest bauxite reserves holder after Guinea.
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The country currently has five active bauxite mines, including the Boddington mine operated by BHP Billiton, the Huntly and Willowdale mines operated by Alcoa, Rio Tinto Alcan’s Weipa mine in Queensland, and the Gove mine operated by Rio Tinto’s subsidiary Pacific Aluminium.
China
China, the world’s largest aluminium producer and consumer, produced 40mt of bauxite in 2012 accounting for 16% of global bauxite output. The country’s bauxite resources, estimated at 830Mt and comprising 3% of the world’s total, are the world’s ninth-biggest and are mostly confined to four provinces, namely Henan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Shanxi.
China’s biggest producing bauxite mine is the 6.4Mt/y capacity Jiakou bauxite mine in Shanxi province followed by the xiaoyi-xingan (6Mt/y) and the xiaoyi-shaoy (5.9Mt/y) mines both located in Shanxi province. The Aluminium Corporation of China, also known as Chinalco, is the leading bauxite producing company.
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By GlobalDataBrazil
Brazil produced 34.95Mt of bauxite in 2012 accounting for about 14% of the global bauxite output. The country’s bauxite resources, estimated at 2,600Mt, comprise 9% of the world’s total.
The Porto Trombetas mine, owned by Mineração Rio do Norte (MRN), is the country’s biggest bauxite mine followed by Vale’s Paragominas mine (5.4Mt/y) and Alcoa’s Juruti mine (2.6Mt/y).
Indonesia
Indonesia produced 30Mt of bauxite in 2012, contributing 12% of the world’s total output, and contains resources estimated at 1,000Mt accounting for 4% of the world’s total.
The Kendawangan mine in Sulawesi in Eastern Indonesia with 14Mt/y production capacity is the country’s biggest bauxite producing mine followed by the Tangerang (12Mt/y) and the East Kotawaringin (8Mt/y) mines.
Guinea
The West African country Guinea produced 17.4Mt of bauxite in 2012 accounting for 7% of the world’s total bauxite output during the year. Guinea’s bauxite resources, estimated at 7,400Mt comprising about 26% of the world’s total, makes it the world’s richest bauxite holding country.
The Sangaredi mine, also known as the Boke mine, produced more than 14Mt of bauxite a year, becoming Guinea’s biggest bauxite mine. Boke is owned and operated by the country’s principal bauxite producing company Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinea (CBG), a joint venture between the Guinean Government (49%) and Halco Mining (51%) also a joint venture between Dadco Mining and Rio Tinto Alcan.
India
India produced 15.19Mt of bauxite in 2012 accounting for 6% of the world total output and holds the seventh biggest recoverable bauxite resources estimated at 900Mt, 3% of the world’s total.
India’s bauxite resources are mostly concentrated in the states of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. The country’s biggest bauxite producer is the Panchpatmali mine (6.3Mt/y production capacity) owned and operated by state-owned National Aluminium Company (Nalco) followed by Hindalco’s Baphlimali mine (4.5Mt/y) in Orissa and Kolhapur bauxite mine (2.3Mt/y) in Maharashtra.
Jamaica
Jamaica produced 9.33Mt of bauxite in 2012, accounting for 4% of the world total output, while the country’s bauxite resources estimated at 2,000Mt, accounting for 7% of the world’s total and are the fifth biggest.
Discovery Bay or the St.Ann bauxite mine, owned and operated by Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Partnership (NJBP), has a production capacity of 4.5Mt/y making it the country’s biggest bauxite producer followed by the Mount Oliphant mine (3.7Mt/y) owned and operated by Jamalco, a joint venture between Alcoa and the Jamaican Government.
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan produced 5.17Mt of bauxite in 2012 contributing around 2% of the world’s total bauxite output. The country contained 809mt of recoverable bauxite resources as of 2013 estimates.
The 3.3mt/y Lissakovsk bauxite mine with 3.3mt/y production capacity is Kazakhstan’s biggest bauxite producing mine followed by the Turgay and Arkalyk bauxite mines, while Aluminium of Kazakhstan (AoA) is the leading bauxite producing company.
Russia
Russia’s bauxite production in 2012 stood at 5.16Mt accounting for 2% of the world’s total output. The Northern Urals region accounts for more than 80% of the country’s total bauxite production and about 30% of its explored bauxite reserves.
The Severo-Uraisk mine with 3Mt/y production capacity is Russia’s biggest producing bauxite mine followed by the Sredne-Timan bauxite mine (2.4Mt/y), while the SUAL group is the country’s leading bauxite miner.
Suriname
Suriname produced 2.9Mt of bauxite in 2012 accounting for 1% of the global bauxite output.
The Coermotibo mine with 2.6Mt/y production capacity is Suriname’s biggest bauxite producing mine followed by Kaimangrasie (1.4Mt/y) and Klaverblad (1.4Mt/y) mines. Suriname Aluminium Company (Suralco), a subsidiary of Alcoa, the principal bauxite miner in the country.
