MORE PROFIT IN ALUMINIUM THAN BAUXITE

By Nimba Monnemu Tokpa, International Trade & Economics Analyst.

Aluminum is the most used metal in the world and this material is made from bauxite. And there is one place in this world which holds the largest deposit of bauxite ore: Guinea in west Africa. Since the 80s, this west African country has been digging and exporting the product on raw basic rather than   semi or finish-product. 

Guinea is among the poorest countries in the world despite having a considerable deposits of mineral resources such as: bauxite ore, iron ore, gold, uranium, diamond, cobalt, etc… What have been holding back Guinea are: mismanagement of resources, corruption,  bad leadership, and failure to invest in and recruit technical professional to build and maintain operation of the processing of mining and agricultural products. 

Guinea does not have a respectable aluminum company that possesses plants producing hot-rolling and cold-rolling lines of finished aluminum products for automotive, construction and airplane industries. Most of the bauxite mining companies which exploit the minerals in Guinea are foreigners( Russia, China, Iran…) and they are not interested in constructing aluminum plants in the country.

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