Bauxite
The Carpentaria Basin contains Rio Tinto Alcan’s Gove mine which accounts for nearly all past bauxite production and 90% of identified bauxite resources in the Northern Territory (NT). A smaller Aboriginal-owned mining operation at the Dhupuma Plateau near Gove commenced operation in 2017.
Read the bauxite factsheet PDF (1.2 MB)
Mines
For more information go to Rio Tinto
Remaining JORC resource: 159 Mt @ 49.4% Al2O3
The Gove bauxite mine near Nhulunbuy has been in production since 1971. An alumina refinery operated in Gove from 1972 until 2014 but all bauxite is now exported. Bauxite at Gove averages 3.7m in thickness and occurs in deeply lateritised, dissected plateau remnants overlying the Cretaceous Yirrkala Formation. The gibbsitic bauxite is low in silica (3% reactive SiO2) and is mainly pisolitic and tubular in nature.
For more information go to Gulkula mining company
Resource not published.
A second bauxite mine is in operation on the Dhupuma Plateau, immediately south of the Gove mineral lease, and is operated by the Aboriginal-owned Gulkula Mining Company Pty Ltd. The operation opened in August 2017 and is expected to ramp up to full annual production of 500,000 tpa bauxite within the first four years, and continue this rate of production for a projected 15 year mine life.
The mine is associated with a Mining Training Centre for local Aboriginal people, established with the support of Rio Tinto. The ore is sold to Rio Tinto’s Gove operation.
Projects
Other companies with exploration licence applications for bauxite in the NT include:
- Alcoa of Australia Ltd: Carpentaria Basin
- Todd River Resources Ltd: Money Shoal Basin
More information
- Ferenczi 2001. Iron Ore, Manganese and bauxite deposits of the NT NTGS Report 13.
Operating mine
Care and maintenance
Prospect
JORC resource
Under feasibility
In approvals process
Bauxite
Copper
Critical Minerals
Diamond
Gold
Iron
Manganese
Mineral Sands
Phosphate and Potash
Uranium
Zinc, Lead and Silver
