Shanxi Became A Key Production Base of Aluminum and Magnesium

Shanxi boasts a long history of black industry(coal, coke and iron & steel). As the top 3 resources of the industry of Shanxi, coal, coke and iron & steel significantly support economic development of the province. For a long time,the nonferrous metals industry of Shanxi has been developing slowly. Shanxi keeps an advantageous position in nonferrous metals resources and energy, but it has not established the industry as a pillar of local economy, as a result, it still lags behind some provinces which have fewer resources but take the nonferrous metals industry as their pillar industry for local economic development.

At the beginning of the 12th Five-Year Plan period, Shanxi began transforming its economy, exploring its resources comprehensively,emancipating its mind and opening its door wider to the outside. Shanxi adhered to the idea of “diversified development based on coal” .The nonferrous metals industry of Shanxi was significantly improved in 2011,mainly characterized by the 4 features below:remarkable investment growth, remarkable increase of the number of started and completed projects, remarkable output growth, evident increase of industrial influence and attraction.

Investment growth of the nonferrous metals industry hit a new high in 2011. During the whole year, 108 projects started with the fixed assets investment of RMB 21.09 billion, marking the largest investment of new projects in the history of the nonferrous metals industry. In 2010, the fixed assets investment stood at merely RMB 7.398 billion, and those of the previous years ranged from RMB 3 billion to RMB 7 billion.

In 2011, projects started/completed and successful investment attraction increased than that of the previous year. Shanxi Tongde’s 1 million-ton aluminum oxide project was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission and started on August 12;CHINALCO Shanxi Branch’s 500,000-ton aluminum oxide project started in June; Longmen Aluminum’s 15,000-ton precision aluminum technical reform project started in June;Hejin Yuandong special aluminum project started in June; Xing’an Chemical (Phase II)1million-ton aluminum oxide project was put into operation in May and formed the production capacity of 2,million tons of aluminum oxide; Shanxi Xinfa Aluminum’s 2.4million-ton aluminum oxide project started in March and completed in November; the phase I (6,000 tons) of the 30,000-ton polysilicon project of Changzhi Licheng started on September 1; the phase I of the 10,000-ton polysilicon project of Lu’an Group was successfully commissioned on September 16; Shandong Xinfa Group’s investment of RMB 80 billion in the integrated aluminum-power recycling project settled down in Xiaoyi in September; MCC’s 20,000-ton polysilicon project settled down in Xiaoyi in November.

Output of the 10 types of nonferrous metals continued to grow compared with that of the previous year. After 2 consecutive years of decline, the nonferrous metals industry of Shanxi resumed their growth in 2010. In despite of the increase of electric price in 2011, the nonferrous metals industry continued to grow on a yo-y basis, and the output of aluminum oxide hit a new high in the history of Shanxi. 2011 saw the output of approximately 1.35 million tons of nonferrous metals, up by 4.6% on a y-o-y basis; 950,000 tons of electrolytic aluminum,up by 5.5% on a y-o-y basis; 310,000 tons of magnesium, up by 3% on a y-o-y basis; 9 million tons of production capacity and 5.15million tons of output of aluminum oxide,with the output up by 42% on a y-o-y basis.And the output of other nonferrous metals products also grew.

Influence and attraction of the nonferrous metals industry of Shanxi are rising. Shanxi has worked out a plan for development of the nonferrous metals industry, which is attracting more attention in diversified development of Shanxi; meanwhile, a group of well-known enterprises continuously take part in development of the nonferrous metals industry and are becoming a driving force for development of the nonferrous metals industry of Shanxi; massive participation of famous enterprises directly under the central government, provincial enterprises, private and foreign enterprises such as CHINALCO, China Minmetals Corporation,China Power Investment Corporation, Shandong Luneng, Shandong Xinfa, Hope Group,Jin Jiang Group, Yangquan Coal Group and Datong Coal Group, etc. made the nonferrous metals industry of Shanxi prosper and a pillar industry of Shanxi economy and key production base of nonferrous metals, especially aluminum and magnesium.