Metro’s Bauxite Hills shipment increases amid mining slowdown

The company’s August shipping rates returned to the levels recorded prior to July.

Metro shipped 520,000 wet metric tonnes in August, up from 456,000 wet metric tonnes the previous month.

This contributes to the 2.23 million wet metric tonnes shipped in the year to date.

Metro also mined 1.42 million wet metric tonnes in the June quarter.

The company stated that the mine’s 2020 operational results demonstrated that the Bauxite Hills mine could easily operate at a four million tonnes a year rate using its existing plant and equipment.

Metro managing director Simon Finnis added that despite a period of uncertainty, the site continued to perform safely and extremely well.

“We continue to see improvements in the market and are regularly fielding new enquiries. We continue to make good progress in our negotiations for further bauxite sales,” he said.

Metro announced last month that it would wind down mining activities at the Bauxite Hills mine for the wet season earlier than scheduled due to the impacts of COVID-19 across the aluminium supply chain.

This has hampered the company’s ability to secure further offtake for the mine.