Chinese alumina producers increase output after surge in prices
Alumina prices have climbed more than 40% this year.
China’s MMG Ltd has halted operations at a mill at its Dugald River zinc mine in Australia for about two months of repair work, it said on Friday.
Concentrate output has stopped, but mine operations will continue and it will build up ore stockpiles, MMG told Reuters in an email.
“Dugald River’s SAG Mill is currently undergoing unscheduled maintenance,” MMG said. “At this stage we are assessing the duration of likely repairs. However, we expect that production of concentrate will resume mid-August.”
The Dugald River mine in Queensland is one of the world’s 10 biggest zinc mines and produced 44,760 metric tons of zinc in concentrate in the first quarter of 2024, MMG’s website says.
The zinc concentrates market is already tight and the Dugald closure is expected to create further shortages, one trader said.
MMG said the mill stoppage was expected to have minimal impact on overall 2024 production.
(By Julian Luk and Eric Onstad; Editing by David Goodman)
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