Emirates Global Aluminium unit to exit Guinea after mine seized

Emirates Global Aluminium said its bauxite mining operations in Guinea will be brought to an end after its mine was expropriated by the government.

Its Guinea Alumina Corp. unit is completing the termination of employees and contracts with all its on-site service providers, EGA said in a statement, following what it called a series of unlawful measures to take over its activities and assets in the country. It will no longer have any presence or control of the sites as of the close of business on Friday, it said.

“The Republic of Guinea will have exclusive responsibility for the operation and security of the facilities, infrastructure, equipment and materials,” EGA said.

Guinea earlier this month transferred GAC’s bauxite mining lease to a newly created state-owned company, following a months-long dispute over the Dubai-based firm’s failure to fulfill a commitment to build a refinery to process the mineral.

The military-led government had canceled the basic agreement for GAC’s concession, and since October suspended the company’s bauxite exports.

Guinea is the world’s top producer of bauxite, a reddish ore that’s refined into alumina, which is then smelted into aluminum.

Production at the EGA unit’s site located in the northwest of the country started in 2019, almost two years after the initial planned date. Bauxite exports from the mine dropped to 10.8 million tons last year due to the temporary halt of shipments, from 14 million tons the year before.

(By Ougna Camara)