Xinfa Group Eyes Bauxite in Guizhou

SHANGHAI, Jan. 23 (SMM) – Shandong Xinfa Aluminum & Electricity Group (Xinfa Group) aims to invest in Guizhou province’s Wuzhengdao District because of abundant bauxite in the region. To this end, the group signed coal-electricity-aluminum integration framework agreement with the government of Daozhen County in Guizhou on December 12, 2012. According to the agreement, Xinfa Group will build a 1.6 million mt/yr aluminum hydroxide project. On January 16, 2013, the group signed another agreement regarding bauxite exploitation with the government of Zheng’an County in Guizhou. 

The Management Center of the Central Geological Exploration Fund set up six prospecting projects at Wuzhengdao District in 2011. These projects, running from 2011 through 2013, will prospect a total area of 590 km². An estimated 50 million mt of bauxite was discovered in the course of Mazongling and Dongshan bauxite prospecting surveys of Guizhou’s Zheng’an County last year. Besides, another 60 million mt of bauxite has been found at Daozhen County so far, with an accumulated of over 120 million mt of bauxite expected in the region by the end of 2014.
 
There are now seven aluminum smelters across Guizhou, such as Chalco Guizhou Branch, Liupanshui Shuangpai Aluminum Industry and Anshun Huangguoshu Aluminum, involving a total capacity of 1.34 million mt/yr. Guizhou also has five large alumina producers, including Guizhou Guanglü Aluminum and Chalco Zunyi Aluminum, with a combined capacity of more than 3.4 million mt/yr. Alumina capacity remains in surplus given the existing proportion between aluminum and alumina. China Power Investment and Guizhou Qizheng Chemical are building new alumina capacity, totaling 1.2 million mt/yr. 

Xinfa Group’s aluminum projects are mainly in Shandong and Xinjiang provinces, while its alumina plants are based in Shandong, Shanxi and Guangxi provinces. Its current alumina is enough to meet demand from its aluminum smelters. The group’s investments in Guizhou are a sign that it will build aluminum projects correspondingly in the future. Its aluminum hydroxide project, to be constructed soon, will pave the way for its alumina production. Subsequently, its aluminum project will be subject to domestic industrial policies and future cost control.