China copper smelters plan to cut output after margins fall
The output cuts underscore the industry’s struggle with a shortage of feedstocks caused by recent mine production setbacks.
Aluminum Corp of China Ltd, known as Chalco, has shipped the first cargo of bauxite from its Boffa mine in Guinea, a company spokesman confirmed on Tuesday.
Bauxite is a rock refined to make alumina, which is then used to make aluminium metal.
Chinese industry website eworldship.com reported earlier on Tuesday that the first 55,000 tonnes cargo left Guinea on Jan. 5, aboard Cosco Shipping Bulk’s Qu Shan Hai vessel.
The ship is bound for the port of Rizhao in eastern China’s Shandong province, the website reported.
Chalco has alumina refining capacity in Shandong.
An official from Chalco parent Chinalco had said in November that the first shipment from Boffa, which is slated to eventually produce 12 million tonnes of bauxite per year, would be made in early-December.
Cosco Shipping Bulk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(By Tom Daly and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
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