Iran has started studies for the annual production of 500,000 tonnes of alumina from low-grade bauxite with the help of the Chinese, an official says.
“The initial phase of studies was done with the Chinese, and we are conducting the second phase of the studies,” Managing Director of Iran Alumni Company (IAC) Turaj Zar’e said in remarks published on Monday.
Once the target is achieved, he said, Iran will be self-sufficient in alumina, a compound extracted from bauxite ore that is then smelted to form aluminum.
Currently, 80 percent of Iran’s demand for alumina is met with imports which cost the country $1 billion a year, he said.
According to Zar’e, the bauxite resources of the country are of low quality; hence, they are not suitable for production of alumina powder.
Iran’s largest deposit of bauxite is at the edge of the desert in North Khorasan province in the country’s northeast.
IAC, a subsidiary of state-owned mines and metal holding company Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO), operates a bauxite mine and an aluminium production facility at a complex located about 10 kilometers to the northeast of Jajarm.
Bauxite is processed into alumina, which is used to produce aluminium metal. Aluminium powder is made from the metal. It is used in products ranging from paints and electronics to solar panels and fireworks.
China Nonferrous Metal Industry’s Foreign Engineering and Construction Co, also known as NFC, has been cooperating with IAC and providing it with equipment.
The Chinese company’s website identifies Iran as one of its markets and lists a 2005 news release identifying the Jajarm alumina plant as a “technical modification project undertaken by NFC.”
The first phase of the Jajarm refinery commenced operation with a capacity to produce 40,000 tonnes per year of alumina in July 2019.
By PRESS TV