Guinea, EGA in bauxite supply deal talks

Guinea is in talks with Emirates Global Aluminium over a possible bauxite supply agreement that would see the company source the aluminum feedstock from Guinea’s state-owned Nimba Mining, three people familiar with the matter said.

Guinea’s military-led government revoked the licence of EGA subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation in July following a year-long dispute over the construction of an alumina refinery. It then handed its mining assets over to Nimba Mining.

A supply deal could potentially avert the legal action EGA has threatened over the seizure, the sources, who include a government official, said.

“Discussions are going well, and it is to avoid litigation,” the government source said.

All of the sources asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature of the discussions.

Nimba Mining told Reuters it was not part of the talks and had no information. Guinea’s mines ministry did not respond immediately to a request for comment while EGA declined to comment.

EGA searches for supplies

EGA, equally owned by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala and Dubai’s Investment Corporation, is the world’s largest premium aluminum producer.

The company invested more than $1 billion in GAC, which exported 14 million metric tons annually at its peak before the cancellation of its licence.

EGA’s UAE refinery is engineered for GAC’s ore, one of the sources said. And while it has historically relied on Guinean bauxite, the company has been seeking supply alternatives since the licence was withdrawn.

Guinea, the world’s second-largest bauxite exporter, has mirrored the efforts of its military-led neighbours Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali to exert more control over their mining sectors and boost state revenues.

In late October, Nimba Mining began exporting the 1.5 million tons of bauxite GAC had stockpiled before the licence revocation. It has now shipped 680,000 tons of ore, its managing director Patrice L’Huillier told Reuters on Monday.

Nimba Mining plans to resume mining this month, targeting 10 million tons of exports in 2026 and eventually ramping up to 14 million tons.

The licence covers reserves of about 470 million tons, and Nimba has launched a tender for a refinery with capacity of 1.2 million tons in line with government policy, L’Huillier said.

Guinea holds the world’s largest bauxite reserves, drawing billions of dollars in investment from companies including Rio Tinto, China’s Société Minière de Boké and Russia’s Rusal.

(By Maxwell Akalaare Adombila; Editing by Veronica Brown and Joe Bavier)