Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), a leading industrial company in the UAE outside oil and gas, and Vedanta Limited have signed an agreement under which EGA will supply Vedanta bauxite from its mining project in the Republic of Guinea.

Abdulla Kalban, managing director and chief executive officer of EGA; and Vedanta’s chief executive officer of diversified metals Samir Cairae and chief executive officer of alumina and power Ajay Dixit participated in a signing ceremony in New Delhi, India, said a statement from EGA.

Bauxite is the ore from which aluminium is derived.

EGA’s wholly-owned subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation is building a bauxite mine and associated export facilities in Guinea, in one of the largest greenfield investments in the country in the past 40 years, it said.

First bauxite exports from the GAC project are expected during the second half of 2019. Once full-ramp up is achieved, GAC is expected to produce some 12 million tonnes of bauxite per year, it added.

Much of Guinea’s bauxite is amongst the highest quality worldwide.

Kalban said: “When GAC starts production it will be a new source of high quality bauxite for the world’s aluminium industry, benefiting the economies of Guinea, the UAE and countries like India.”

“This agreement with Vedanta is an important milestone in the development of this project, and we look forward to reliably supplying them with bauxite in the years ahead through safe and responsible operations at GAC,” he said.

EGA supplied Vedanta with three sample shipments of bauxite from GAC in 2017, to enable testing of the ore in Vedanta’s alumina refinery. The sample shipments totalled approximately 150,000 tonnes, said a statement.

EGA will ship the bauxite from Guinea to India using Capesize vessels, amongst the largest bulk cargo ships in the world.

GAC’s total budgeted project cost is approximately $1.4 billion.

EGA is also building an alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi, to refine bauxite ore into alumina which is the feedstock for aluminium smelters. Bauxite for EGA’s Al Taweelah alumina refinery will be supplied by Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée under a separate agreement, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service