Sierra Leone woos miners to clean energy with $11 billion plan
Most mining firms rely on their own diesel supplies to extract iron ore, diamonds, rutile and bauxite in the resource-rich country.
Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC), owned by major producer Emirates Global Aluminium, has offered the Guinea government the use of GAC’s fuel berth and bulk storage infrastructure to help deal with the aftermath of an oil terminal blast.
Supply from Guinea, the world’s third largest producer of alumina raw material bauxite, has been in focus, supporting aluminum prices in London, after the Dec. 18 blast damaged fuel tanks at the main oil terminal handling fuel imports.
There is no impact on GAC’s production or shipments to customers, the company said in an emailed statement to Reuters, adding it expected no interruptions to its mining, rail and export activities.
Guinea said on Saturday that supplies of fuel to petrol stations were expected to improve significantly following diplomatic efforts with neighbouring countries.
The Dec. 18 blast killed 23 people and damaged most of the fuel tanks at the West African nation’s main oil terminal that handles its fuel imports, leading to shortages.
According to Emirates Global Aluminium’s website, GAC’s 2022 bauxite exports rose by 16% to a record of 14 million wet metric tons. GAC operates a mining concession, in the northwest of Guinea, transporting bauxite to a GAC port by rail.
Emirates Global Aluminium mainly supplies GAC’s bauxite to third-party customers.
(By Polina Devitt; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Barbara Lewis)
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