Russian aluminium giant Rusal said earlier this week that a strike at its Compagnie des Bauxites de Dian Dian (COBAD) operation is illegal.
Union leaders at COBAD said operations at the plant have come to a halt in protest of the working conditions and pay at the site. Union leader Yamoussa Bangoura told Reuters that COBAD had been made aware of the coming strike on May 7.
“We have asked everyone to stop working until our demands are met.”
He went on to say that the decision to strike was made after talks with management at the site produced no results.
For its part, Rusal had little to say regarding the work stoppage at COBAD.
“All we can say is that the strike is illegal”
The site churned out 3.59 million metric tons of bauxite ore in 2021. Rusal’s other operation in country, namely Compagnie des Bauxites de Kindia, yielded 2.65 million metric tons of bauxite ore last year.
Overall, Guinea is the second-biggest producer of bauxite ore. The country mined 83 million metric tons of the ore last year and is a significant supplier of the ore to the People’s Republic of China.
Export of bauxite ore by COBAD was halted in March this year for about a month due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting supply chain disruption.