Growing fears of a bauxite supply disruption are putting alumina traders on alert for a potential price increase, sources have told Fastmarkets.
The concern originates form Brazil, where mainly Minera????o Rio do Norte (MRN), Minera????o Paragominas, Alcoa and Companhia Brasileira de Alum?-nio (CBA) produce bauxite, the raw material for alumina. A new resolution issued by the Brazilian mining agency ANM on February 15 banned any upstream tailings dams in the country. Current structures should be decommissioned by 2023, it said. The ban has been under public consultation for amendments until Friday March 15. According to a source with knowledge of the discussions, the aluminium industry fears a much stricter timeframe than the one hinted earlier could be proposed. "Not only bauxite producers, but all of the Brazilian mining through Ibram [Brazilian Mining Institute, the association representing miners] expressed their discontent of that possibility," the source told Fastmarkets....