Rio Tinto to invest $1.9 billion in Australia's Kangwinan bauxite project
Key Facts
Rio Tinto confirmed it will invest $1.9 billion to develop the Kangwinan bauxite project on the western Cape York Peninsula in Australia's Queensland state. The company said in its announcement that it "will invest $1.9 billion to develop the Kangwinan bauxite project", whose production role is tied to replacing supplies from existing mines. Under the company's previous plan, the project's output will replace production from the Andoom mine in Cape York and the Gove mine in the Northern Territory, both of which it expected to close near the end of the current decade. The initial plan aimed to increase annual production capacity at Southern Weipa operations by up to 20 million tonnes, adding to existing capacity of 23 million tonnes a year. The company described the proposed expansion as "up to 20 million tonnes, in addition to the current capacity of 23 million tonnes", placing the project within its plan to maintain production as the two mines approach closure.
The investment follows a year-on-year decline in Rio Tinto's share of bauxite production, despite an improvement from the previous quarter, according to the company's quarterly production results. Output totalled 15.7 million tonnes in the third quarter of 2026, down 4% from the same period last year. On a quarterly basis, production rose 4% from the previous quarter. Output for the first nine months of 2026 totalled 44.2 million tonnes, down 6% year on year. Rio Tinto maintained its 2026 bauxite production guidance at between 58 and 61 million tonnes. The company thus continued to target the same annual range despite nine-month output falling below its year-earlier level.
The production decline was also reflected in Rio Tinto's first-half 2026 results filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company's share of bauxite production during that period totalled 28,480 thousand tonnes. That compared with 30,610 thousand tonnes in the first half of 2025, a year-on-year decline of 7%. In other bauxite projects, EL7 previously reported on Rio Tinto's plans to acquire the Aurukun project from Glencore and Mitsubishi. The planned Aurukun acquisition adds to the company's bauxite initiatives, alongside the development of Kangwinan to replace production from Andoom and Gove.
The Kangwinan plan includes export infrastructure work, according to the project's Australian Industry Participation plan published by Australia's Department of Industry. The work includes expanding the existing Chith export facility by building a second berth on its northern side. Rio Tinto estimated in its initial plan that the project would create more than 800 jobs during construction, alongside the proposed production capacity. On the implementation timetable, the industry participation plan set 31 March 2029 as the planned project completion date. The company's initial plan had targeted production starting in 2029 at the earliest, making that year the target timeframe for the project's transition from construction to production.