Top five bauxite producing countries in the world

Bauxite ore is the main source of aluminium in the world. It occurs in tropical and subtropical areas in soft limonite rock forms. After extracting from mines, the metallurgical grade ore is first crushed and then purified through the Bayer Process to produce alumina. The refined alumina is then subjected to electrolysis to yield molten aluminium metal using Hall-Heroult process of smelting.

Global bauxite ore production was an estimated 279.7 million tonnes (Mt) in 2015. As of January 2016, total bauxite reserves of the world were at 27.5 billion tonnes. Here’s a list of countries that played dominant roles in bauxite production and trade last year. Please note, this list is based on the latest production data available and hence, is a dynamic one. It may change on the release of further industry update. 

Australia – Australia is the first largest producer of bauxite in the world.  The country produced 80, 000 thousand tonnes of bauxite in 2015. The country exports major part of its bauxite ore to India and China. The Australian companies that are engaged in producing bauxite include:

• Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals
• Alumina Limited
• South32
• Queensland Alumina Limited
• Rio Tinto Alcan

The country has five bauxite mines which include Boddington (Western Australia), Gove (Northern Territory), Huntly (Western Australia), Willowdale (Western Australia) and Weipa (Queensland). Alcoa Corporation’s Huntly mine in Australia is the second largest bauxite mine in the world.

China - China is second highest bauxite producing country in the world and has produced 60,000 thousand tonnes of bauxite in 2015. The Aluminium Corporation of China or Chinalco is the foremost bauxite producing company in China. Jiakou bauxite mine is the biggest producing bauxite mine followed by the xiaoyi-xingan and the xiaoyi-shaoy in Shanxi province.

Brazil – Brazil produced 35,000 thousand tonnes of bauxite in 2015, an increase from the 34,800 produced in 2014. This makes the country as the third largest bauxite producing country. The Porto Trombetas mine which is owned by by Mineração Rio do Norte (MRN) is the largest bauxite mine in Brazil with an annual production capacity of 18 million tonnes.

Paragominas mine in Northern Brazil is another source of bauxite with an annual production capacity of 10 million tons.  It is located in the state of Pará, one of Brazil's northernmost states. Hydro used to own 67.9 per cent and the Brazilian company Vale 32.1 per cent. Currently, Hydro owns 100 per cent stake of Mineração Paragominas.

India-  Orissa and Andhra Pradesh states are the most concentrated bauxite reserves in India and more than 50 per cent of India’s bauxite are found here. India produced 21,000 thousand tons of bauxite in the year of 2016.  The largest bauxite producer is Panchpatmali mine by state-owned National Aluminium Company (Nalco).

Nalco registered 16.8% growth in Bauxite production up to February 2017 with a volume of 6.5 million tonnes. The growth is Nalco’s highest bauxite production since inception.

The company’s chairman and managing director (CMD) T K Chand said, “During the financial year 2016-17, Nalco will surpass its production capacity of 6.82 million tonne.”

The other major bauxite mines are Hindalco's Baphlimali mine in Orissa and Kolhapur bauxite mine in Maharashtra.

Guinea    Guinea stands as the number five bauxite producing country in the world. The country currently produces 20,000 thousand tons of bauxite per year. The biggest bauxite producer is Sangaredi mine. The mine is owned by Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG), a joint venture between the Guinean Government (49%) and Halco Mining (51%) also a joint venture between Dadco Mining and Rio Tinto Alcan. The company produces 14 million tons of bauxite per year.

Guinean-Chinese consortium SMB-WAP and Guinea Alumina Corporation S.A. (“GAC”) owned by Emirates Global Aluminium (“EGA”) are some of the major bauxite players in Guinea. Spain, Ukraine and Ireland are the top importers of bauxite and account for fifty per cent of the total bauxite export from Guinea.

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According to a recent report from Reuters, Guinea aims to increase bauxite production to 60 million tonnes by 2020. In June 2016, Emirates Global Aluminium (“EGA”) announced the construction of a major bauxite mine in the Republic of Guinea which will develop an initial 12 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa).

In December, EGA completed the first bauxite bulk sample shipment of 55,000 tonnes from its Guinea mine to China. The shipment initiates EGA’s programme to unlock Chinese and other markets for Guinean bauxite in the coming year.

Rio’s Amrun bauxite project is expected to start production in the first half of 2019 with initial production capacity of 22.8 million tonnes a year. Metro Mining Limited and Metallica Minerals are drawing huge investments in bauxite projects in Australia.

According to the aluminium sector report from Antaike, China is expected to add 6.65 million tonnes per year of new alumina capacity in 2017, mostly in North China, Central China and Northwest China.  This indicates growth in bauxite demand in the coming years mostly in China. Since the status of Indonesia and Malaysia regarding bauxite export are still not clear, Guinea and Australia are expected to fill the supply gap of bauxite in China.