A global surge in bauxite prices has ABx Group looking to fast-track mining from its Binjour deposit south-west of Bundaberg.

A potential sale is also on the table as ABx moves to capitalise on it assets in the face of a 60 per cent hike in the price of bauxite delivered from Guinea to China in the last four months.

The Binjour project hosts a resource of 37 million tonnes of gibbsite-type metallurgical bauxite and ABx said part of that tonnage was likely to be suitable as direct shipping ore, with no beneficiation required.

‘Mining, port and transhipping studies have been completed, and mine lease application MLA 100277 is well advanced,’ the company stated in an update to the ASX.

‘ABx is assessing how quickly the project can commence production, potentially during CY2025.’

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The company is also looking at the potential to get bauxite on the market from its Taralga project in New South Wales.

This hosts a resource of 38 million tonnes of gibbsite-type metallurgical bauxite, located 200 km inland from Port Kembla.

ABx believes the bauxite market may be undergoing a transition similar to the iron ore market in the early 2000s.

Severe supply disruptions from Guinea and reduced production in China have seen the price shift from $US74 per tonne in September last year to $US118 per tonne on January 13.

The company said it had been approached by several parties and the ABx board was intensively evaluating options for the Binjour and Taralga projects.

‘ABx is in discussions with numerous parties regarding offtake, direct investment and the possibility of purchasing one of the assets,’ the company said.

‘A data room has been established. The company will continue to assess its options for the projects that provide the best opportunity to create long-term shareholder value.’

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Cape York-based producer Metro Mining has successfully completed an expansion project at the Bauxite Hills mine in time to tap the global bauxite price surge, while Rio Tinto remains a major producer near Weipa.

Meanwhile Glencore and Mitsubishi Development hold the undeveloped Aurukun bauxite project on Cape York, proposed to produce up to 15 million tonnes per annum of run-of-mine (ROM) bauxite ore, which equates to up to eight million dry tonnes per annum of product bauxite.

High Australian alumina prices and bauxite export volumes are forecast to drive Australia’s total aluminium, alumina and bauxite export earnings to a new record high of $20 billion in 2024–25.

The Office of the Chief Economist, in the latest Resources and Energy quarterly, said the expansion of Bauxite Hills and improved performance from other bauxite mines should increase Australian bauxite output to 103Mt in 2025–26.

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