Rio Tinto to start early works and final studies to increase Amrun mine’s bauxite production on Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula
21 Maio 2025 - 8:07PM
Business Wire
Rio Tinto will begin early works and conduct final engineering
studies to increase production capacity at the Amrun bauxite mine
on Cape York Peninsula in Far North Queensland, aiming for first
output as early as 2029.
The project, named Kangwinan at the request of Traditional
Owners, the Wik Waya people, will involve building a new mine and
expanding the existing port to almost double bauxite production
from Rio Tinto’s Weipa Southern operations, where Amrun is
located.
Production from the Kangwinan project would replace output from
the Andoom mine in Cape York and the Gove mine in the Northern
Territory, which are both expected to close toward the end of the
current decade.
Rio Tinto Pacific Operations Aluminium Managing Director Armando
Torres said: “This feasibility study will explore a new bauxite
operation at our Weipa Operations and represents a strong vote of
confidence in the world-class bauxite deposits on the Western Cape
York Peninsula, our bauxite operations, and the local
community.
“It’s an important step toward securing the long-term future of
our operations at Cape York, and the benefits that mining brings to
communities in the region, while ensuring security of supply to our
Australian refineries and to our customers.”
If approved, the project will establish a mining centre 15
kilometres south-east of Amrun, which was constructed at a cost of
US$1.9 billion and opened in 2018. The proposed expansion would
increase annual bauxite production capacity from Rio Tinto’s Weipa
Southern operations, by up to 20 million tonnes, in addition to the
current 23 million tonnes, and expand export capacity through the
Amrun port. This would largely replace the tonnages lost when Gove
and Andoom come to the end of their mine lives.
Kangwinan will generate more than 800 jobs in construction and
would maintain the workforce currently employed at Weipa’s mines
slated for closure.
The approved early works include building a 250-room camp at
Amrun Village to house construction workers and developing an
initial access road to the Kangwinan area.
A final investment decision is due in 2026, subject to cultural
heritage consultation with Traditional Owners, completing
engineering, cultural heritage and environment studies, as well as
securing regulatory and other approvals.
Additional information
Kangwinan is a protector of all sacred, ceremonial and female
protocols of the Wik Waya tribe. It is also the name of the black
female crow, a totem of the Wik Waya people.
Rio Tinto operates an integrated aluminium value chain in
Australia and New Zealand which starts with bauxite mined at Weipa,
refined into alumina at Gladstone, Queensland then turned into
aluminium at smelters in Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania and
New Zealand. Companies now owned by Rio Tinto began bauxite mining
in Cape York, Queensland in 1963. The current mines supply Rio
Tinto Aluminium’s Yarwun and QAL refineries and export customers in
China.
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