Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) said on Thursday it has signed a three-year deal to supply China’s Bosai Group with “several million tons” annually of bauxite from Guinea.
Bauxite, the main aluminum ore, is refined into alumina, which is then used to make aluminum metal. China is the world’s biggest aluminum producer and Guinea is its top bauxite supplier.
United Arab Emriates-based EGA, which mines bauxite in West Africa through its Guinea Alumina Corp. subsidiary, said in a statement the first shipment to Bosai under the deal was expected to be made in January 2022. The value of the deal was not disclosed.
It noted it had supplied Bosai with more than 1 million tons of bauxite this year under short-term agreements.
Bosai, based in southwest China’s Chongqing municipality, has capacity to produce 1.7 million tons per year of alumina, as well as 450,000 tons of primary aluminum.
China’s demand for imported bauxite is set to increase by around 20 percent to 132 million tons in 2022, state-backed research house Antaike said on Thursday, as companies including Bosai add a total of 6.6 million tons of annual alumina capacity.
Some 5.2 million tons of new alumina capacity will be put into operation in the first half of next year, Antaike added in a note, estimating that imports will meet 52 percent of China’s bauxite demand in 2021.