Guinea approves $2.9 billion with China's TBEA for a bauxite project

As another milestone in the development of bauxite/alumina industry in the West African nation, Guinean lawmakers approved a $2.9 billion deal with China’s TBEA Co Ltd for the development of a bauxite-alumina project there. The project will include development of a bauxite mine and the construction of a port, railroad and power plant to facilitate the supply chain. The project is estimated to generate $406 million in annual revenue for Guinea.

On Tuesday, a spokesman for parliament’s mines and industry commission, Dian Bailo Diallo, explained the significance of the project to the lawmakers in the Guinean capital, Conakry.

Guinea is the next big contender to Australia as the biggest exporter of bauxite to China after Indonesia and Malaysia have slipped from the list. The country also confirmed in December that TBEA’s production of bauxite will begin in June 2019. They are expected to start alumina refining two years later. According to the government report, TBEA will also construct an aluminium foundry within seven years of the project.

Guinea’s volatile western town Boke is known for suffering from frequent strikes and protests from a local population who feel excluded from the town’s vast mineral wealth. The poor West African nation, despite being one of the world’s richest iron ore and bauxite deposits, has seen very little development. Various new projects are expected to lift up the living condition of the local people around the mining areas.