Guinea should refine its own bauxite instead of exporting it majorly, says president Condé

Guinea cannot afford to thrive on bauxite exports over the long term and keep overlooking developmental issues of its domestic aluminium industry. Doing that would not only make the economy vulnerable in the hands of global commodity price volatility uncontrollable on its part but would also jeopardise the development of its domestic aluminium industry, which otherwise seem to hold greater prospects than projected.

Alpha Condé, the president of the Republic of Guinea, said this last week at the biggest mining event of Guinea, themed around “The Mining Sector: The Key To Transforming The National Economy For The Benefit Of All Actors.”

Alpha Condé, President of the Republic of Guinea

Condé started his address by saying, “I have already said that mines cannot be the lever for the development of Guinea. We are not in control of commodity prices whose prices are set in London, Washington or Montreal.”

Instead, he projected the country’s prime resource- the mining sector as “a means of transforming the economy to the benefit of other economic sectors, social sectors and infrastructure development,” necessitating widespread economic reforms that would catch the attention of global investors.

{googleAdsense}

The Middle East has been trying to increase its presence in Guinea to tap its bauxite reserves for years now. China’s demand for the aluminium ore is also showing no signs of slowdown. However, since most of the big Chinese aluminium smelters use alumina produced domestically, restricting Guinean bauxite miners from refining their ore may have serious consequences for the country’s primary aluminium production.

Guinea boasts a total bauxite reserve of up to 7.4 billion tonnes, the larger than any country in the world. Rio Tinto, Alcoa, China’s Hongiqao and UC Rusal have substantial bauxite mining operations in the country.