bauxite

Any momentum Weipa had last year to normalise the community appears to have evaporated as new Rio Tinto GM Michelle Elvy dismissed the matter last week. Speaking at Rio Tinto Weipa’s first community forum of 2021, Ms Elvy deflected the only question regarding normalisation.

Cape York bauxite company Metro Mining will recommence operations this month after shutting down early in 2020 due to COVID-19. Operations are planned to resume on April 19, with the company aiming to mine and ship four million wet metric tonnes of bauxite between April and December.

Twenty-one men on board a vessel tasked to pick up bauxite from Weipa were left to starve by the Qatari shipping company that owns the vessel, angering officials in Australia. The Panama-flagged bulk carrier Movers 3 has been anchored off Weipa for a month and food had to be purchased and delivered to the ship after the crew ran out of provisions. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which placed the ship in detention on March 4, has slammed operator Aswan Shipping for its negligent practices. Rio Tinto has responsibility to avoid bad operators, say unions.

Confidence is growing that Aurukun’s bauxite deposit will one day be mined after Glencore last week struck a significant deal with Mitsubishi ­Development. Under the agreement, Mitsubishi will acquire a 30 per cent interest in the project, with the remaining interest retained by Glencore.

Michelle Elvy is happy to bring a little bit of boring to her newly created role as she looks to put her stamp on Rio Tinto in Weipa. The new general manager of bauxite, replacing the GM roles at Weipa and Gove, says that safety and stability will be pillars of her leadership.