World largest bauxite exporter Guinea’s mutinous military unit seizes power, suspends constitution; Aluminium industry predicts a further surge in price

The world’s second-largest producer of bauxite, Guinea’s unit of military seized power and suspended the constitution, destabilizing the West African nation, which is the global largest exporter of aluminium ore.

On 5^th September 2021, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, the head of Guinea’s Special Forces announced the takeover on a state broadcasting platform and influenced the armed forces to back him.

The colonel said: “The action was taken to address financial mismanagement and corruption in Guinea under President Alpha Conde.”

“If you see the condition of our roads, of our hospitals, you realize that it is time for us to wake up. We are going to initiate a national consultation to open an inclusive and peaceful transition, Doumbouya added.

Guinea contests with Australia as China’s largest supplier of bauxite, the raw material used to make alumina and eventually the metal aluminium. According to the Ministry of Mines and Geology data, the nation shipped 82.4 million tonnes of bauxite globally last year, while a major chunk of that went to China, the world’s biggest aluminium-consuming country.

The price of aluminium has escalated to the highest ever in 10 years, the alumina price has also surged and now Guinea’s political instability is expected to fire up the global bauxite prices, hence will force a further rise in the green metal price.

Since 2001, RUSAL has been operating in the Republic of Guinea and stands as one of the largest international investors in the country. In Guinea, RUSAL owns Compagnie des Bauxites de Kindia (CBK), as well as the Friguia bauxite and alumina production facility.

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Emirates Global Aluminium, the leading aluminium producer in the Gulf region has also invested in Guinea, a wholly-owned mining subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation.

The military takeover in Guinea on 5^th September came hours after heavy gunfire erupted near the presidential palace in the capital, Conakry, in the morning.

Alpha Conde’s Government said in a statement before Doumbouya’s announcement: “The presidential guard, backed by the nation’s security forces, had repulsed the attack by the insurgents and called for calm.

The 83-year veteran, Alpha Conde was sworn in last December for a third term in office, vowing to fight corruption. However, initially, he was hailed when he came to power in 2010 for ushering in democratic rule, though he was allowed to run for a controversial third term last year after a referendum, backed by Russia, led to a change in the constitution.