Saudi Arabian Mining Company has entered into a $7bn joint venture with aluminium major Alcan, Arab News reported. The integrated project will include bauxite mining, alumina refining, a power plant and aluminum smelting. A first phase includes developing a 90m-tonne bauxite reserve, and building a 1,400 MW power plant; an alumina refinery with a capacity [...]

Alumina Ltd said it expects long term alumina prices to be underpinned by rising capital costs for constructing new refineries, as well as growing demand and the availability of bauxite.
Chairman Don Morley told Alumina’s annual general meeting that construction costs for alumina refineries have increased substantially.
“For example, recent expansions of alumina refineries outside China have [...]

BHP Billiton on Friday announced the acquisition of a 33.3% interest in Global Alumina’s Sangaredi Refinery Project in Guinea, West Africa, for a consideration of $140m.
The project comprises the design, construction and operation of a 3Mtpa alumina refinery, 9Mtpa bauxite mine, and associated infrastructure.
A mining concession covering 690km has been secured and a mineral resource [...]

Finding enough bauxite sources to feed the upcoming aluminium smelters in the Gulf will be a challenge as the region begins to emerge as a major producer of the metal. Availability of cheaper energy has encouraged new investment in aluminium production in the region.
Power is responsible for roughly one-fourth of a smelter’s operating costs, while [...]

Guinea, the world’s number one bauxite expor-ter, says it is with-drawing agreements made with a U.S. oil company and a Russian-managed bauxite producer as part of a planned review of minerals contracts.
The withdrawals were announced in a government statement read on state television Sunday.
They referred to a production-sharing contract with American oil company Hyperdynamics and [...]

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c54388) has announced the addition of “Alumina Refining Industry in the U.S. and its Foreign Trade (1996-2008)” to their offering.
This industry report focuses upon the Alumina Refining industry. This U.S. industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in refining alumina (i.e., aluminium oxide) generally from bauxite.

China holds large reserves of metal deposits but the quality of most of the deposits is low, state media reported on Wednesday, citing preliminary survey results from the country’s geological institutes and resource agencies.
China plans to complete an assessment of the country’s mineral resources and set up a mining plan for some provinces in 2007, [...]

Investment in geological exploration in the Krasnoyarsk region will quadruple this year, to 22
billion rubles, a source at the regional office of the Federal Subsurface Resources Agency told Interfax.
Up to 12 billion rubles [...]

The proven iron ore reserves in China are 59.39 billion tons, according to the Ministry of Land and Resources.
The iron content of the reserves is 30 to 35 percent on average and 41.5 billion tons among the total reserves is magnetite, the ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site.
It noted that China [...]

Xstrata plc, the fourth-largest copper and nickel producer in the world, has agreed to sell aluminium plants and a bauxite mine to New York-based Apollo Management LP for US$1.15 billion as it focuses on more profitable commodities.
The operations in the US and Jamaica were acquired by Switzerland-based Xstrata in 2006 when it bought Canada`s Falconbridge [...]