Mining giant Rio Tinto PLC yesterday announced the approval of a US$1.9 billion bauxite project in Australia to better meet growing demand from China.
The Amrun project is to involve the construction of a bauxite mine, and associated processing and port facilities on the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland state’s far north.
“Amrun is one of the highest quality bauxite projects in the world,” Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh said.
“It is a tier-one asset that will deliver significant benefits to our stakeholders,” he added.
Amrun is located 40km south of Rio’s existing bauxite mines on the peninsula, East Weipa and Andoom.
Rio said it plans an initial output of 22.8 million tonnes per year from the new mine, replacing production from the depleting East Weipa and extending annual Cape York bauxite exports by about 10 million tonnes.
The project was approved by Australia’s federal environment regulators in May 2013 and was originally expected to be exporting 22 million tonnes annually by this year.
However, reduced capital spending and extra studies delayed the project’s approval.
Walsh said that the project would provide jobs and strengthen the economy in Cape York and Queensland for many decades, with production and shipping expected in the first half of 2019.
“This long-life, low-cost, expandable asset offers a wide variety of development options and pathways over the coming decades,” he said.
“We are establishing Cape York bauxite as the product of choice for the Chinese seaborne market with consistent quality, security of supply and strong technical marketing support,” Walsh added.
Prices for bauxite, which is used to make aluminium, have soared in recent years as China’s supply of the material has deteriorated.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last