Guinea Alumina Project Assured Despite Risks -BHP Billiton
September 15 2009 - 5:25AM
Dow Jones News
BHP Billiton's (BHP) alumina refinery project in the west
African country of Guinea will be developed despite political risks
in the country, the company's President of Aluminium said
Tuesday.
"There is no doubt in my mind that [the] Guinea [project] will
be developed," Jon Dudas said. "There are a lot of flare ups, but
some positives too."
The Guinea refinery is being developed as a joint venture
between BHP Billiton, Global Alumina, Dubai Aluminium Company and
Mubadala Development Company. The project includes the design,
construction and operation of a 10 million metric tons a year
bauxite mine, a 3.3 million tons a year alumina refinery and
associated infrastructure. But operating conditions in Guinea have
been fairly volatile since the end of 2008, when the dictator
ruling the country died and a new government, led by self-appointed
president and junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, took
control.
Dudas told the Metal Bulletin aluminum conference in
Duesseldorf, Germany that acompany either does business with a
country like Guinea or Congo, or does business in those
countries.
"We do always need governments to comply with the rule of law,"
he said. "Operating in countries with political risk is a risk that
miners have to take on. They have to go where the resources are,"
he added.
Guinea holds a third of the world's bauxite reserves, the ore
refined into a white powder called alumina which in turn makes the
aluminum used in the world's cars and planes. The country also has
vast deposits of iron ore, gold and diamonds.
-By Andrea Hotter, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9413;
andrea.hotter@dowjones.com