The Guinea Bauxite Corporation (SBG) is finally finalizing its basic agreement for the operation of the Garafiri bauxite mine after obtaining its mining concession in 2016. The SBG is majority-owned by the German company WP Pals Holding. , a subsidiary of Metalcorp, the metals and minerals division of the multinational Monaco Ressources Group, whose CEO, Axel Fisher, proceeded Monday, May 14, 2018 with the signing of the basic agreement with the Guinean Minister of Mines, Abdoulaye Magassouba, for the construction and operation of an alumina refinery and a bauxite mine in the region of Kindia in Lower Guinea.
The SBG exploitation project of the Garafiri bauxite deposit with reserves estimated at about 300 million tons for an average alumina content of 41.4% is based on an investment of one billion four hundred million US dollars (1 $ 400,000,000) for a 25-year period for on-site Alumina processing and the refinery to be built will produce 1.6 million tonnes of alumina per year.
The SBG, which plans its first commercial production in 2022 and will produce 8 million tons of bauxite per year, of which 3 million for export and 5 million for transformation into alumina on the spot, Garafiri will undoubtedly be the largest integrated bauxite project – Alumina ever made in Guinea. “The investment we make in the SGB project is proof of our confidence in Guinea and its government,” said Axel Fisher, CEO of Monaco Ressources Group.
The Guinean Minister of Mines welcomed SBG’s commitment to move from raw to alumina production “We are pleased to see that this company is committed to go directly to the transformation of bauxite alumina. Not to mention the ancillary infrastructure to be implemented as part of the project’s start-up, but also to support the agricultural sector, which will create jobs far beyond mining jobs, “said Abdoulaye Magassouba.
According to estimates, the project is expected to generate in terms of socio-economic impact, 1,803 direct jobs, more than 6,000 indirect and about 10,000 in the construction phase and will report $ 72 million per year in terms of taxes to the Guinean State .
The specificity of the SBG project lies in the fact that the date of entry into production is indexed to that of the production of alumina and at the same time the project integrates at the same time an agricultural component with its subsidiary, agricultural society of Guinea. which is developing two agricultural projects, including one for rice seed production in the Kindia region and a second one for 5000 hectares in Koundara.
