EGA's Guinean bauxite mine 50pc complete

2018-07-02

Jul. 1, 2018 - Emirates Global Aluminium,, a leading industrial company in the UAE outside oil and gas, has said that its project to develop a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa, has reached 50 per cent construction completion.

More than 4,000 Guineans, 90 per cent from the Boke region, are currently working to construct the Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC) project, said a statement from the company.

GAC has a total budgeted project cost of approximately $1.4 billion. First bauxite exports are expected during the second half of 2019.

Once full ramp-up is achieved, the project is expected to produce some 12 million tonnes of bauxite per year and employ some 1,000 people directly and as contractors, it said.

GAC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of EGA. The project is one of the largest greenfield investments in Guinea in the past 40 years and will be a new global source of bauxite supply, it added.

Bauxite is the ore from which aluminium is derived. Guinea has more than seven billion tonnes of bauxite resources, over a quarter of the world"s total. Much of Guinea's bauxite is amongst the highest quality worldwide.

GAC's mining concession covers an area of 690 sq km and contains one of the largest bauxite deposits in Guinea.

Extracted bauxite will be transported by rail to Kamsar port, some 70 km away, using existing railway lines that are already used by other mining companies.

At the port, bauxite will be transported by a 5.3 km-long conveyor system along a jetty and loaded onto barges. Kamsar is located on the river Nunez some 17 km from the open sea and is inaccessible for the world's largest vessels.

The ore will be transhipped to ocean-going vessels at a floating transfer point.

EGA is also building the UAE's first alumina refinery at Al Taweelah in Abu Dhabi. First alumina is expected during the first half of 2019. Alumina, which is refined from bauxite, is the feedstock for aluminium smelters. Al Taweelah alumina refinery is expected to meet 40 per cent of EGA's alumina needs once full ramp-up is achieved.

EGA has signed an agreement with Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee for the supply of bauxite for Al Taweelah alumina refinery.

The first 61,450-tonne shipment of bauxite from Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee was received last month. It sailed to the UAE from the Republic of Guinea in West Africa in 33 days. Once Al Taweelah alumina refinery is at full production, Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee will supply some five million tonnes of bauxite each year to EGA, it said.

Abdulla Kalban, managing director and chief executive officer, EGA, said: "Alumina refining will be a new industrial activity for the UAE, so this shipment of bauxite is the first ever to our country. Thousands of people are currently working hard to bring the construction of Al Taweelah alumina refinery to completion, and we look forward to producing our first alumina during the first half of next year," he added.