Aluminum Corp of China (Chinalco), one of the world's leading producers of both aluminum and alumina, said Thursday it hoped to begin construction of the Aurukun bauxite mining project in Australia's northeastern state of Queensland at the end of 2009.

With a planned investment of 3 billion Australian dollars (about 2.8 billion U.S. dollars), the mining project, owned by Chinalco's aluminum subsidiary Aluminum Corporation of China Limited (Chalco), is the largest investment deal by a Chinese company in Australia.

A feasibility study on the bauxite project was started at the end of last year. It was expected to last for about two years, during which an environment evaluation would also be finished, said an official with the Chalco overseas development department.

Chinalco signed a mining agreement with the government of Queensland in March 2007. It then signed an agreement on land use with the natives of the Aurukun community in May that year. With the two agreements, the company won the mining license issued by Queensland in September.

Gina Castelain, a native of Aurukun who visited Chinalco with a delegation from the community, said the project would not only increase jobs and training opportunities for locals, but would also promote business development in the community.

Xiao Yaqing, Chinalco general manager, said the Aurukun project would be open to any co-investor interested in the project during its financing process before the construction.

The Aurukun bauxite resources amounts to about 420 million tons. Chinalco plans to build a bauxite mine capable of realizing 10 million tons annually and an alumina plant with a production capacity of 2.1 million tons annually, a Chinalco source said. The company also pledged environmental protection and energy conservation.

Overseas mining resources are important for Chinalco, which has shifted its development strategy to become a diversified international mineral company.

China is now the world's largest aluminum-products maker and consumer. The country's bauxite mine resources, however, only account for two percent of the global total.

(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2008)