In line with predictions for 40% growth in seaborne bauxite market by 2025, Japanese shipping company MOL announced the signing of a five year bauxite transport contract with Alufer Mining Limited, an independent mineral exploration and development company with bauxite interests in the Republic of Guinea.
Alufer has received all required permissions from the government of Guinea with regard to building the Bel Air bauxite mine and construction commenced in January 2017. The Bel Air mine is located 15km from the coast near the Cap Verga peninsula, 120km north of Guinea’s capital, Conakry and has a JORC compliant resource of over 146mt of trihydrate bauxite with low reactive silica.
Alufer is building and will operate the new Cap Verga export facility which will enable the loading of Capesize vessels anchored 32km from the coast. Bauxite production is scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2018 and reach production of 5.5 million tonnes per annum. Under the deal, MOL’s ocean shipping services will support the project.
“MOL continues to take a proactive stance in providing safe, reliable and efficient transport of bauxite from the Republic of Guinea and anticipates strong growth in demand for this commodity in that the current market for seaborne bauxite is approximately 100mt per annum and is forecast to grow 40% by 2025, primarily driven by import requirements in China,” the company said.
