SMB resumes operation at its bauxite mine in Guinea

Societe Miniere de Boke (SMB) has resumed operations at its bauxite mine after a nearly two-week strike in Guinea, the company’s Managing Director said on Wednesday.

“The overwhelming majority of workers went back to work this morning even if there are a few scattered blockages without any impact on shipments,” Frederic Bouzigues told Reuters in a text message.

SMB - owned by Guinea, China’s Winning Shipping Ltd, Shandong Weiqiao and UMS International Ltd - said that the company had already lost around 1 million to 1.2 million tonnes of scheduled bauxite production, with losses running to US$1 million a day.

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 stayed near the bottom of the U.N. Human Development Index. Boke’s other major bauxite miner is Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee (CBG), 49 percent of which is owned by the Guinean state and the remainder by Alcoa, Rio Tinto Alcan and Dadco.