The rapid ramp-up in alumina production while domestic high-grade bauxite resources deplete is the biggest challenge for China's alumina industry, Yin Zhonglin, director of Alumina Research Department at Aluminum Corporation of China Limited (Chalco) Zhengzhou Research Institute, said at Asian Metal's Aluminium Raw Materials Conference, held in Jinan on May 18.
Yet instead of widely relying on imported bauxite, Yin said that alumina production using both imported bauxite and domestic Chinese bauxite will coexist in the long run. China's alumina industry has grown quickly in the last decade, for example, last year's output reading was 64% higher than 42.14 million tonnes in 2012, and more than tripled compared with 20.6 million tonnes in 2007.China produced 69.02 million tonnes of alumina in 2017, accounting for 55% of global alumina output at 124.54 million tonnes, Yin told the delegates, citing data from China Non-ferrous Metals Industry Association. About 26.8 million tonnes of alumina were produced from imported bauxite, accounting for approximately 39% of total alumina production in China, Yin said. Chinese bauxite...