Iran has exported alumina to Azerbaijan for the first time, Touraj Zare, managing director of Iran Alumina Company, said.
Previously, Tajikistan was the only costumer of Iran’s alumina, but beginning from the current fiscal year (March 2017) Azerbaijan also has started the imports, Zare said, the press office of Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) reported.
The Islamic Republic has exported 20,000 tons of alumina to Azerbaijan and Tajikistan during the current fiscal year, he added.
Alumina is a refined version of the raw ore bauxite. The material is mainly used in aluminum metallurgy, industrial ceramics, and chemical processing.
Iran Alumina Company has produced 154,000 tons of alumina during the current fiscal year, up by 3.3% YoY, Zare said.
He added that the company’s annual output was planed to reach 245,000 tons by March 2018.
He further said that country’s biggest proven reserve for bauxite was Jajaram bauxite mine in North Khorasan province, which had about 36 million tons of bauxite.
Zare added that the figure was expected to increase to 50 million tons once the ongoing exploration operations by the company in the region were finalized.
Every four kilograms of bauxite yield 1.93 kilograms of alumina; while it takes 1.93 kilograms of alumina to produce 1 kilogram of aluminum.
Based on Iran’s 20-Year Vision Plan, as much as 1.5 million tons of aluminum should be annually produced by 2025.
According to a report released in 2014 by Iran Parliament’s Research Center, the most serious challenge facing the country’s aluminum industry is supplying the raw material, bauxite. (Trend/Ukrainian metal)