EGA bauxite exports from Guinea begin as UAE industrial champion completes upstream expansion to create integrated global aluminium giant

• Start of bauxite exports from Guinea completes EGA’s strategic upstream expansion to create value from mine to metal
• EGA began production at Al Taweelah alumina refinery in April. Alumina refineries process bauxite ore into alumina, the feedstock for aluminium smelters

United Arab Emirates: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, today announced the first exports of bauxite ore from Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC), its mining project in the Republic of Guinea in West Africa.  

The first exports of bauxite ore from GAC mark the completion of EGA’s strategic expansion upstream in the aluminium value chain to create an integrated global aluminium giant. The GAC project, and Al Taweelah alumina refinery where EGA began production in April, create new revenue streams for EGA and secure at competitive prices the raw materials that the UAE’s aluminium industry needs.

Bauxite is the ore from which aluminium is derived. Bauxite is refined into alumina, the feedstock for aluminium smelters. EGA previously relied on imports to meet all its alumina needs.

EGA's GAC project is one of the largest greenfield investments in Guinea in the last 40 years, and cost some $1.4 billion to develop. More than half the funds were provided by the largest greenfield mining project financing ever in Guinea - a $750 million loan from development finance institutions, export credit agencies and international commercial banks.

GAC is expected to make a direct, indirect and induced economic impact of some $700 million each year in Guinea once production is fully ramped-up, a 5.5 per cent boost to the national GDP.

EGA invested some $3.3 billion to develop Al Taweelah alumina refinery, which is the first in the UAE and only the second in the Middle East.

Abdulla Kalban, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said: “Our first export of bauxite ore is a landmark moment for EGA and for Guinea. For EGA, it completes our strategic expansion upstream, making us an integrated global aluminium producer. For Guinea, the project creates economic opportunity and helps the country to expand its production of its biggest natural resource.

Mr Kalban continued: “On the GAC project, as in all EGA operations, safety is the first priority. I am particularly proud our safety performance on this project was world-class and I thank everyone at GAC and our contractors for this important achievement.”

GAC’s operations include a mine, railway infrastructure (some shared with other operators), and port facilities.

Bauxite ore is transported from GAC’s jetty at the port of Kamsar by self-propelled barge to a transshipment point operated by EGA in deeper water. This enables EGA to export bauxite ore from GAC using bulk cargo vessels that are amongst the world’s largest, including Capesize and Newcastlemax ships.

There were two main construction sites on the GAC project, some 90 kilometres apart.

More than 41,000 safety trainings were delivered on-site during the construction of the GAC project. The rate of recordable safety incidents was less than one-third of global mining benchmarks and construction was completed with zero fatalities.

Construction of the project took 30.3 million hours of work, the equivalent of one person working for more than 17,000 years and one-and-a-half times the number of working hours is took to build Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

The peak construction workforce was 4,650, of whom 85 per cent were Guinean and 67 per cent were from Boké, the region where GAC’s mine and port are located.

Around 1,000 permanent jobs have been created to operate the GAC project. GAC has invested more than $1.3 million on GAC Skills, a programme to develop high potential Guineans for permanent roles in the organisation.

GAC is expected to produce some 12 million tonnes of bauxite ore per year at full design capacity. This is equivalent to the weight of two Great Pyramids of Giza.

Bauxite ore from GAC is sold by EGA to customers around the world. EGA is importing bauxite ore for processing at Al Taweelah alumina refinery from Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée under a long-term agreement, also using transshipment and Capesize vessels.

GAC has invested some $14 million so far in social and environmental projects in neighbouring communities, with projects including building 12 schools, eight health centres and running health awareness campaigns that have reached more than 90,000 people.

-Ends-

Contacts at EGA:
Simon Buerk
sbuerk@ega.ae
056 3111 536

About EGA
Emirates Global Aluminium is equally-owned by Mubadala Investment Company of Abu Dhabi and the Investment Corporation of Dubai.

It is the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside the oil and gas industry, and the largest company jointly owned by the two Emirates.

EGA is an integrated aluminium producer, with operations from bauxite mining to the production of cast primary aluminium. EGA operates aluminium smelters in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah, an alumina refinery in Al Taweelah and a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in the Republic of Guinea.

EGA’s aluminium is the second largest made-in-the UAE export after oil and gas. In 2018, EGA produced 2.6 million tonnes of cast metal. EGA is the only UAE producer and makes the UAE the fifth largest aluminium producing nation in the world.

EGA has more than 350 customers in over 60 countries. Over 80 per cent of EGA’s production is value added products, one of the highest proportions of any aluminium company in the world.

EGA’s aluminium is primarily used in the construction, automotive, packaging, aerospace and electronics industries.

Over 10 per cent of EGA’s aluminium production is sold in the UAE to around 26 downstream aluminium companies that make products with EGA’s aluminium. The growing broader aluminium sector in the UAE supports 60,950 jobs. EGA itself employs over 7,000 of these people including almost 1,200 UAE Nationals.

EGA has focused on technology development for over 25 years. EGA has used its own technology for every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines. In 2016 EGA became the first UAE industrial company to licence its core industrial process technology internationally.

As a corporate citizen of the UAE, EGA aspires in all its operations to be measured amongst the world’s leading metals and mining companies in meeting its environmental and social responsibilities. In 2017, EGA became the first Middle East headquartered company to join the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative, a global programme to foster greater sustainability and transparency in the aluminium industry. In 2019, EGA’s Al Taweelah site became the first in the Middle East to receive certification from ASI for its sustainability practices and performance. ASI certification is the aluminium industry’s internationally recognised standard for environmental and social performance and governance.

EGA was formed in 2014 through the merger of Dubai Aluminium and Emirates Aluminium.

EGA’s Jebel Ali aluminium smelter began production as DUBAL in 1979. At almost five square kilometres, this site is five times bigger than Dubai Mall.

EMAL started production in 2009 and its Al Taweelah aluminium smelter was the largest single-site aluminium smelter in the world when completed. EGA’s Al Taweelah site is five times bigger than Al Maryah Island at six square kilometres.

EGA has its own power stations at both sites, producing electricity to meet its needs. EGA’s electricity generation capacity is 5,450 megawatts, making EGA the third largest electricity generator in the UAE after the Dubai and Abu Dhabi utilities. EGA also produces water through desalination units at its power plants.

EGA began production at Al Taweelah alumina refinery in April 2019. EGA’s alumina refinery is the first in the UAE and only the second in the Middle East. The project reduces the UAE’s dependence on imported alumina and will supply 40 per cent of EGA’s needs once fully ramped-up.

Bauxite exports from Guinea Alumina Corporation, EGA’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Guinea, began in August 2019. The GAC project is one of the largest greenfield investments in Guinea in over 40 years.

For more information on EGA please visit www.ega.ae.  

© Press Release 2019