China’s Yunnan Aluminium targets producing 1.4 million tonne of alumina in 2018, up 65.1% from realized output in 2017, as a newly commissioned expansion project ramps up.
Yunnan Aluminium in its annual report filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange said that the alumina and aluminum semi producer posted a 3.4% year-on-year rise in 2017 alumina output to 847,800 tonne.
The company’s 600,000 tonne per year second phase alumina capacity expansion project at Wenshan in China’s southwestern Yunnan province commenced trial production in late 2017. The launch will enable the company to lift alumina nameplate production capacity by 75% to 1.4 million tonne per year in 2018.
The company’s output of pure aluminum rose 13.4% year on year to 1.37 million tonne in 2017, while output of aluminum alloy and aluminum semis rose 12.9% to 621,000 tonne.
It attributed both increases to the acquisition of a 94.35% equity interest in the Qujing Aluminium smelter in Yunnan province in the year.
The 380,000 mt/year smelter was operating at around 95% of capacity when Yunnan Aluminum completed the acquisition last August. It also produces ingots and semis. The acquisition lifts the company’s aluminum smelting capacity to around 1.6 million tonne.
Yunnan Aluminium said it expects demand for its aluminum products to increase in 2018 as Beijing’s moves to shut heavily polluting outdated capacity pares back excessive supply.
The integrated aluminum producer owns around 170 million mt of inferred bauxite resources in Yunnan, and has plans to develop 140 million mt of bauxite resources and build a 1 million mt/year alumina refinery in Laos.
