Rio Tinto will invest $1.9 billion USD ($2.7 billion AUD) to develop the Kangwinan bauxite project on Western Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, underpinning the long-term future of its Weipa Operations and continued supply to its international customers and the Australian alumina refineries in Gladstone.
This will add 20 million tonnes of annual bauxite production capacity in Weipa, leveraging some existing infrastructure, with first output targeted in 2029 and full production expected by 2032. This will replace production from the Andoom mine near Weipa as it reaches the end of its life this decade. It will also help compensate for the planned end of production at the Gove mine in the Northern Territory in 2029.
Construction will ramp up in 2027 and is expected to support more than 1,300 construction jobs. Longer term, the project will help sustain a residentially based workforce of around 1,500 people in the Western Cape.
Read full announcement here.
