Australian Bauxite hopes improving market conditions will fire up its Campbell Town mine

Trouble struck the small mining company’s Bald Hill mine in December when the global bauxite mining collapsed, just after it commenced operation.

This resulted in the cancellation of a substantial sale to a Chinese buyer shortly after.

Company chief executive Ian Levy said market conditions were gradually returning due to a decision earlier this year by the Chinese government to ease bank credit conditions.

He said the company was now negotiating sales contracts and receiving requests that they were not receiving last year.

“We are hoping to start shifting tonnage in a month but at this moment we don’t have a firm contract,” Mr Levy said.

“Because we are such a small operation, we need to be paid when it is put on the ship which means we can’t compete with the big boys that have money for financing.”

The mine last year employed four full-time workers and 12 contractors.

Mr Levy said all staff had been fortunate to find other work aside from three full-time staff kept on to undertake care and maintenance.

“The good news is that we can fire up the mine in a fortnight if we have to,” he said.

The mine has 120,000 tonnes of the material ready to go including 40,000 tonnes in its product form at Bell Bay waiting for shipment.

Mr Levy said that product could be shipped in at one week’s notice – an advantage the company had over their larger competitors.

He said the company had been kept afloat by small sales of cement-grade and fertiliser grade bauxite.

“There is a global shortage of cement-grade bauxite at the moment and that has kept us going,” Mr Levy said.

“There is still some life in the body yet.” 

The Bald Hill mine was the first bauxite mine to open in Australia in 35 years.

Australian Bauxite’s board is chaired by former Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon.

Australia’s biggest competitors in the bauxite market is neighbouring Indonesia and Malaysia.