Feb. 24, 2023 - Shares of Tianshan Aluminum Group fell after the Chinese non-ferrous metals producer said it plans to buy three bauxite mines in Indonesia for USD30.3 million.

The company’s stock [SHE: 002532] slid 4.8 percent to close at CNY8.58 (USD1.27) today. The wider Shenzhen market fell 0.8 percent.

Units of Tianshan Aluminum signed a deal to buy Inti Tambang Makmur and obtain the rights to the three mines which have more than 30 million dry metric tons of bauxite, a sedimentary rock with high aluminum content, the Shihezi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region-based firm said in a statement late yesterday.

The acquisition is the company’s first overseas expansion, Tianshan Aluminum noted, adding that it plans to continue to seek more opportunities globally to obtain high-quality resources.

Negotiations between the two parties started in August 2021, when they signed a cooperation intention agreement, according to previous announcements.

With the recovery of the Chinese real estate sector and the booming new energy industry, demand for aluminum products is expected to grow steadily, the firm said, adding that aluminum supply capacity will have a significant impact on the cost and sustainable operation of producers, given the supply bottleneck of domestic bauxite mines.

Tianshan Aluminum has production lines with a total annual capacity of 1.2 million tons of electrolytic aluminum in Shihezi, Xinjiang.

The company said in an earlier statement that it expects net profit to have fallen 34 percent last year to CNY16.2 billion (USD2.3 billion) and revenue to have risen 14 percent to CNY165.6 billion (USD24 billion).