China Ministry Orders East Hope Alumina Units in Henan to Shut

HONG KONG May 27 -- China's Ministry of Environmental Protection has ordered East Hope Group's alumina refinery in Henan province to shut down production facilities that had not been approved.

The ministry said East Hope (Sanmenxia) Aluminium, the alumina arm of the large aluminium and agricultural products group in China, had been given approval to build annual capacity of 700,000 tonnes in two phases in Sanmenxia city in the central province. But the refinery had built extra 400,000 tonnes of capacity without an additional approval, according to a statement posted on the ministry website on Thursday.

The refinery also had added another two phases in the construction of alumina capacity and four power generators that all had not been approved by the ministry, the statement said.

The ministry ruled that East Hope (Sanmenxia) had to shut down units with 400,000 tonnes capacity and the added two phases of alumina production capacity. The refinery was also fined 100,000 yuan, said the statement dated May 23.

The statement did not disclose the total capacity involved and the timeframe of closure.

East Hope Group's metal arm operates the alumina refinery in Henan and an aluminium smelter in Inner Mongolia in the north.

The group's website does not provide capacity of the alumina and aluminium plants. (www.easthope.com.cn)

Industry sources estimate East Hope's alumina refinery has more than 2 million tonnes of annual capacity and the aluminium smelter has about 1 million tonnes.

China, the world's top consumer of alumina used to produce primary aluminium, has more than 41 million tonnes per year of alumina capacity.