BHP sells Guinea alumina resources to Middle East partner
Mining News | 2013-05-17 06:33:23
BHP Billiton announced change in its Guinea exit plan by deciding to sell its one-third stake to Dubai Aluminium and Abu Dhabi state-owned Mubadala
By Paul Ploumis
CONAKRY (Scrap Monster) : BHP Billiton announced change in its Guinea exit plan by deciding to sell its one-third stake to Dubai Aluminium and Abu Dhabi state-owned Mubadala.
Earlier BHP had plans to sell its stake to Canada's Global Alumina Corporation- the original promoter of the $5.2 billion alumina development project. It has now been confirmed that the Middle East Partners will be jointly acquiring the stake.
The escalating political risks in Guinea coupled with the pessimistic growth outlook projected for aluminum industry has forced BHP to take exit route out of the bauxite rich Guinea. The political instability in Guinea has resulted in under-investment by mining companies in the region, pushing Guinea to fifth place among world’s leading bauxite producers despite having huge untapped resources. Moreover, the aluminum prices are yet to recover from the slump.
The BHP-led JV owners are believed to have spent around $ 800 million on the project which has not made substantial progress due to repeated delays. The Guinea alumina project proposed to develop mine with an annual output capacity of 10 million metric tonnes of bauxite.
