High grade bauxite for refractories, steelmaking slags
Last month, First Bauxite LLC loaded the first bulk ocean vessel of its Guyanese raw high-grade non-metallurgical bauxite for overseas markets in refractories, cement, abrasives, welding, and slags.
After some 10 years to from inception, First Bauxite’s timing is perfect just when consumers are keenly seeking alternative non-met bauxite sources to China.
In November 2019, a new wash plant started up, producing 30,000 tpm raw ore. The single product line raw bauxite contains 63% Al2O3, and on calcining yields 93% Al2O3, with low iron and impurity levels.
This is clearly a high grade bauxite and ideal for refractories. Commercially developed deposits of non-met grades of bauxite outside China are relatively rare, and even more so for those hosting refractory grade.
Bauxite supplies from China face interrupted or unpredictable availability both in volume and quality, so consumers are unsurprisingly evaluating alternative sources. While First Bauxite has broken ground in Guyana to meet this demand, there are emerging players also developing in Australia and Brazil.
First Bauxite produces high grade, low impurity bauxite with raw ore alumina contents at 63% and, when sintered, over 93% alumina. This fills the niche in the alumina range between 87-88% typical bauxites and more expensive high grade aluminas such as brown-fused alumina.
Applications for First Bauxite’s alumina include water treatment, refractories, Ultra High Strength Proppants, welding applications, certain abrasive markets, and steelmaking slags.
First Bauxite LLC (FBX) is a natural resource company engaged in the exploration and development of bauxite deposits in Guyana, South America. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, Guyana Industrial Minerals Inc. (GINMIN), is the mining arm producing washed bauxite at the rate of 30,000 MT per month. First Bauxite is marketing the high-grade bauxite globally as a raw material for refractories, for aluminum sulphate production, as a UHSP deep-well proppant in the oil industry, plus as an abrasive and steelmaking slag conditioner.
A CLASS OF ITS OWN
The high grade bauxite is not a replacement for ordinary non-metallurgical bauxites and not even for other Guyanese bauxites which are lower alumina or higher in iron. The extremely low impurities make this bauxite stand out in a class of its own.
The high corundum with a minor mullite phase present an excellent material for hot strength, refractoriness and resistance to chemical attack or abrasion.
It is an excellent raw material in manufacture of castables with low alkalis and low porosity. As a “sweetener” for certain products, First Bauxite can add alumina units and it makes a great feedstock for higher grade alumina processes, such as Brown-Fused Alumina (BFA).
The low silica and low impurities make First Bauxite’s Calcined product a superb choice for steelmaking slag conditioning.
