According to an update by Shanghai Metals Market, Guinea-based bauxite producer Societe Miniere de Boke (SMB) plans to spend US$ 1.2 billion to build a railway track that will link its bauxite mining business with Dapilon port. The news came after the Guinea’s government spokesman Aboubacar Sylla announced that in an e-mail.

Societe Miniere de Boke (SMB) is a joint venture of three companies like Shandong Weiqiao Aluminium in China, Winning Shipping in Singapore, and UMS International in Guinea.

The railway track will be 135 kilometres long and expected to start operating with the next 18 months.

Mr. Sylla also mentioned in an emailed statement that this initiative would expand SMB’s bauxite mine as well, building facilities to process bauxite into alumina and to purchase rail vehicles.

Guinea is home to over a quarter of bauxite reserves globally and is the primary bauxite exporter to China.

In 2014, Winning Shipping, a Singaporean maritime firm, and UMS, a Guinean logistics firm, teamed up with Shandong Weiqiao, China’s leading aluminium producer, in a joint venture called La Société Minière de Boké (smb). Guinea’s government also holds a 10% stake. SMB obtained rights to mine two areas in Boké, producing the first bauxite in 2015. In 2018, SMB alone is estimated to produce 35 million tonnes, almost double Guinea’s total exports five years earlier. Everything goes to China; almost half of its bauxite imports come from Guinea.