Final equipment delivered to EGA’s bauxite operation in Guinea

2019-03-01

Mar. 1, 2019 - Emirates Global Aluminium PJSC (EGA) announced to investors earlier this week the delivery of the final major piece of bauxite mining equipment at its operations in Guinea.

EGA said on Wednesday that a barge loader built by ThyssenKrupp in India arrived in recent days and now awaits installation at the terminus of the site’s 1.5-km pier. The four-storey-tall implement will be used to load bauxite ore aboard self-propelled barges which will, in turn, transfer the ore to bulk cargo ships awaiting the loads in deeper water.

This final piece is the last of several massive machines to arrive in the West African nation, which has seen some of the biggest implements to ever be installed at a mining project on the continent.

EGA’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Abdulla Kalban greeted the news as an encouraging milestone on the way to eventual bauxite production at the site.

“All the major pieces of equipment for our Guinea project have now safely arrived, completing a series of challenging engineering and logistical feats. Construction overall is very well advanced and we look forward to its safe completion and the start of bauxite exports later this year.”

Per the firm, the US$1.4 billion project is on schedule to deliver its first bauxite exports in the second half of this year. The project, which is headed up by EGA subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation, is an important component in the company’s push to stake out a place in the aluminium upstream market as well as securing for itself a reliable and steady supply of the ore for its own aluminium operations domestically.

Based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Emirates Global Aluminium is an aluminium conglomerate created by the merger between Dubai Aluminium (DUBAL) and Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) in 2013. EGA had an estimated enterprise value of US$15 billion at the time the merger took place. The firm is owned equally by Mubadala Development Company of Abu Dhabi and Investment Corporation of Dubai. Emirates Global Aluminium holds interests in bauxite/alumina and primary aluminium smelting.