Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has signed a 15-year agreement with LD Ports and Logistics, a subsidiary of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, for the trans-shipment of bauxite in the Republic of Guinea.

Also, Louis Dreyfus Armateurs and Abu Dhabi Ports separately signed an agreement to form a joint venture company to work together to carry out the project.

EGA will be loading bauxite at the port of Kamsar in Guinea from both its Guinea Alumina Corporation project, which will supply customers around the world, and from Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée, for supply to EGA’s Al Taweelah alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi.

Kamsar is located on the River Nunez some 17 kilometres from the open sea and is inaccessible to the world’s largest vessels.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Managing Director and CEO Abdulla Kalban, said: "EGA has set an ambitious growth agenda to expand upstream internationally. Trans-shipment is an important link in the chain that will connect our alumina refinery and aluminium smelters in the UAE with bauxite mines in Guinea, and will also lower shipping costs from GAC to global bauxite markets."

EGA is currently developing the GAC project in Guinea, a bauxite mine and associated export facilities. The first bauxite from the project is expected during the second half of 2019.

The GAC project is one of the largest greenfield investments in Guinea in the past 40 years, and will be a new global source of bauxite supply. Bauxite is the ore from which aluminium is derived.

On the agreement, Louis Dreyfus Armateurs CEO Gildas Maire said: "These agreements with EGA and Abu Dhabi Ports expand our geographic and operational footprint in West Africa. We are pleased to be partnering with these leading UAE companies and to play a part in the development of Guinea’s economy by helping to enable the competitive transport of Guinean bauxite."

EGA is also building the UAE’s first alumina refinery at Al Taweelah in Abu Dhabi.

The first alumina is expected during the first half of 2019. Alumina, which is refined from bauxite, is the feedstock for aluminium smelters. Al Taweelah alumina refinery is expected to meet 40 percent of EGA’s alumina needs once full ramp-up is achieved.

Bauxite for Al Taweelah alumina refinery will be unloaded at Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi. In December, EGA and Abu Dhabi Ports signed a long-term port facility agreement, which enables Abu Dhabi Ports to develop Khalifa Port to become the first in the Gulf capable of directly handling the world’s largest bulk cargo vessels.

Abu Dhabi Ports will fund and complete dredging and widening works to the Khalifa Port approach channel and basin, including EGA’s berth.-TradeArabia News Service