Rio Tinto’s Yarwun alumina refinery is celebrating the first shipment from the company’s newly operational Amrun bauxite mine in Far North Queensland. 

The shipment arrived at Gladstone port on the RTM Weipa on Monday.    

More than 80,000 tonnes of bauxite were unloaded from Amrun’s Chith export facility near Weipa last week, six weeks ahead of schedule.

“This arrival of the first shipment from Amrun is an exciting milestone for us,” said Rio Tinto Yarwun general manager Mark Gilmore.

“It not only marks the start of additional supply to our two alumina refineries and smelter in Gladstone, but will support China’s significant import needs for decades to come.

“Amrun has provided a major boost to the Queensland economy, and will continue to do so, not only on Cape York Peninsula, but also in Gladstone.”

During construction, the Amrun development set a benchmark in supporting local and regional suppliers by investing $2.1 billion, with more than 770 Australian companies directly and indirectly engaged with the project. 

The Amrun mine will replace production from the depleting East Weipa mine and increase annual bauxite exports by about 10 million tonnes.

Amrun is expected to reach a full production rate of 22.8 million tonnes a year during 2019.

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