SMM, July 3: In early June, according to public information, the Kazakh Prime Minister met with the Vice Chairman of Xinfa Group. Xinfa expected that, based on its entire industry chain industrial park construction plan, the project will create a highly integrated production system, achieving full chain production from raw materials to high value-added aluminum products by deeply processing bauxite. After the project is put into operation, the annual alumina capacity is expected to reach 4.8 million mt and the aluminum capacity 2.4 million mt. With the announcement of this project, according to SMM's tally, total planned aluminum capacity outside China for 2026 and beyond reaches 20.72 million mt. (including a small amount of capacity that came online in 2025) Of this, in 2026, total planned aluminum capacity to be commissioned outside China is about 2.3 million mt, of which about 700,000 mt has been commissioned, and the remaining 1.6 million mt is expected to be commissioned in H2 2026. In 2027, 3.555 million mt of new capacity is planned to be commissioned, with Indonesia accounting for about 67.5%. The cumulative planned new capacity from 2026 to 2027 is about 5.855 million mt, accounting for 28.3% of the total planned capacity for 2026 and beyond.

On August 26, the Shandong Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Xinfa Group. Zhang Chengwei, Party Secretary and Director of the Shandong Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, and Zhang Huaitao, Deputy General Manager of Xinfa Group, attended the signing ceremony and delivered speeches. Liu Xiangyuan, Member of the Party Standing Committee and Deputy Director of the Shandong Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, and Gu Shengxin, Deputy General Manager of Xinfa Group, were also present at the signing ceremony. Zhang Chengwei stated that as one of China's top 500 private enterprises, Xinfa Group possesses a number of high-quality mines and mining rights both domestically and overseas, with distinct advantages in projects, capital, and resources. He expressed hope that both parties would take the signing of the strategic cooperation framework agreement as an opportunity to deepen collaboration in mineral resource exploration and development, ecological protection, technological innovation, and mining rights management. The goal is to jointly discover large, high-quality, and rich ore deposits, achieve greater results in the new round of strategic actions for mineral exploration breakthroughs, and make new and greater contributions to serving the Belt and Road Initiative and ensuring national energy and resource security.