Guinea Plans to Expand Cooperation with Glencore into Alumina and Energy Investment

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 14, Guinea's Minister of Mines and Geology, Bouna Sylla, stated that Guinea is discussing expanding investment cooperation with Glencore, with potential areas including alumina refining, energy, and other strategic investments. These discussions are follow-up cooperation arrangements initiated after Guinea's state-owned mining company Nimba Mining Company (NMC) signed a bauxite pre-financing and offtake agreement with Glencore. No new alumina project investment agreement, energy project contract, or final investment decision has yet been formed.

On September 7, NMC and Glencore signed a pre-financing agreement exceeding US$300 million, alongside a 5-year bauxite offtake arrangement. According to Guinea's official Simandou 2040 project materials, Glencore will market 10 million to 12 million tonnes of bauxite annually over the next 5 years, corresponding to a cumulative 50 million to 60 million tonnes over the contract period. NMC is wholly owned by the Guinean government, and this transaction formally brings Glencore into Guinea's bauxite supply chain.

Bouna Sylla subsequently disclosed that he had held talks with Glencore CEO Gary Nagle on further cooperation, with discussions covering alumina, other minerals, energy, mineral product sales, technology transfer, and personnel training. Glencore has not yet announced the scale of alumina refining it intends to participate in, the type of energy projects, the investment amount, or the construction timetable. Therefore, this milestone remains at the stage of project and investment opportunity consultations.

Guinea is simultaneously advancing multiple alumina refining projects. Chalco Guinea Company, a subsidiary of Aluminum Corporation of China, signed an agreement with the Guinean government in May this year to build the Boffa alumina refinery, with a planned annual output of 1.2 million tonnes of alumina and a total investment of approximately US$1.68 billion, of which about US$1.12 billion is for refining infrastructure; construction of the project officially began in June.

In addition, State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC)'s Boffa alumina project began construction in March 2025, also planned for an annual output of 1.2 million tonnes of alumina, with an investment of approximately US$1 billion, and supporting construction of at least a 250 MW power station, of which 100 MW is planned to be connected to Guinea's public grid; the project is scheduled to complete commissioning and enter the production phase in 2028.

Winning Consortium Alumina Guinea is also advancing an alumina refining project with an annual output of 1.2 million tonnes, with a planned investment of approximately US$1.2 billion, and supporting construction of more than 300 MW of power facilities. Guinea is currently expanding its local bauxite processing capacity through multiple refining projects. Therefore, one of the core questions in this round of Glencore consultations is whether it will further move from the bauxite trading segment into alumina processing and supporting energy investment.