Emirates Global Aluminium PJSC (EGA) shipped its one hundredth load of bauxite ore from its operations in the West African country of Guinea earlier this month.
EGA said in a press release that its subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation has shipped 16.4 million metric dry tons since operations commenced at the US$1.4 billion project in the fall of 2019. As EGA uses Capesize shipping vessels, each load out of Guinea is about 180 thousand metric tons of bauxite ore.
Most of GAC’s shipments are destined for alumina refineries in the People’s Republic of China and India, but a portion is shipped to the UAE for use as feedstock for the Al Taweelah refinery in Abu Dhabi. In GAC’s first full year of operation it rocketed to the second-biggest supplier of bauxite ore on the planet.
EGA’s Chief Executive Officer Abdulnasser Bin Kalban highlighted the importance of GAC to his firm and the Guinean economy.
“In less than two years since the start-up of GAC, we have established EGA as an important player in the global seaborne merchant bauxite market. I commend the GAC team for reaching the milestone of 100 ships sailed. We are just beginning, and look forward to growing our production in Guinea further to create more value for EGA and the Guinean economy.”
GAC’s mining concession in Guinea covers an area of 266 square miles and serviced by a rail line that transports the bauxite ore mined there to the port of Kamsar.
Based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Emirates Global Aluminium is an aluminium conglomerate created by the merger between Dubai Aluminium (DUBAL) and Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) in 2013. EGA had an estimated enterprise value of US$15 billion at the time the merger took place. The firm is owned equally by Mubadala Development Company of Abu Dhabi and Investment Corporation of Dubai. Emirates Global Aluminium holds interests in bauxite/alumina and primary aluminium smelting.