Guinea targets 60 million ton bauxite production by 2020

<p>According to a report from Reuters, Guinea aims to increase bauxite production to 60 million tonnes by 2020. The country is planning to invest aggressively to meet strong demand for bauxite from China, the mines minister of Guinea said on Wednesday.</p> <p><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/guinea%20bauxite1.jpg" alt="News" width="517" height="226" /></p> <p>The West African nation has about a third of the world's bauxite reserves and one of the leading bauxite producer. Currently, Guinea produces about 19 million tons of bauxite annually. The bauxite is refined and supplied to refineries in the country and abroad to make aluminium.&nbsp; Though development had been hampered by years of military rule and civil unrest, the country has recently seen a few significant investments by overseas companies.</p> <p>"The minimal objective for the government is to bring bauxite production from 18 million tonnes in 2015 to 60 million tonnes within three years," Abdoulaye Magassouba, Minister of Mines and Geology of Guinea said.</p> <p>He added that the government has invested US$2 billion in the sector last year, without giving any specific details on the projects.</p> <p>Guinea's Bauxite Company (CBG) said last year that it had agreed over a $1 billion loan to increase production capacity at the Kamsar treatment plant. Halco Mining consortium has a 51 per cent share in CBG and the Guinea government owns the rest of the stake.</p> <p>{googleAdsense}</p> <p>Another large investor is Guinean-Chinese consortium SMB-WAP, which began exporting bauxite from Guinea in 2015.</p> <p>Guinea Alumina Corporation S.A. (&ldquo;GAC&rdquo;), a wholly Emirates Global Aluminium (&ldquo;EGA&rdquo;) owned mining development company, is currently focused on advancing its bauxite and alumina export project in the Bok&eacute; region of Republic of Guinea. The GAC project centers on a high quality, export grade bauxite deposit in excess of 1.3 billion tonnes. The project is under development and the first bauxite bulk sample shipment of 55,000 tonnes from its mine under development in the Republic of Guinea has left from the port of Kamsar in December 2016, bound for bauxite customers in China.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>