Nalco Eyes bauxite Assets in Guinea, Holder of a Third of Global Reserves

Company says if it gets mining rights, it may even set up an alumina refining unit there

National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is looking at the possibility of gaining access to bauxite deposits in Guinea. The West African country is home to a third of the world’s bauxite reserves. Guinea has an estimated 40 billion tonnes of high grade bauxite. “We are eyeing bauxite mines in Guinea. If we get the mining rights, we are thinking of setting up an alumina refining facility there. Nalco will shortly send a team to Guinea to evaluate the possibilities,” said Nalco’s chairman & managing director T K Chand. Aluminium firms of international repute like Alcoa and Rio Tinto Alcan jointly own a bauxite mine with Guinea state. But, no Indian aluminium company has presence in Guinea yet. Vedanta imports bauxite from Guinea to feed its Lanjigarh alumina refinery unit at Lanjigarh (Odisha). The African nation is known to be an export hub as it ships around 30 million tonnes of bauxite each year.
Its bauxite shipments are expected to double in a year on the back of sharp ramp up in production. Guinea’s bauxite is considered to be the best in the world as it contains very low amount of reactive silica that obviates the need for beneficiation or washing of ore. However, despite being endowed with ample reserves and a flourishing bauxite mining industry, Guinea lacks the facilities to process the aluminium ore. Besides, sporadic incidents of political unrest have disrupted bauxite mining and its movement. If Nalco manages to acquire bauxite mines and install an alumina refining unit in Guinea, the company can hope to harvest good returns and profitability from alumina sales. Apart from bauxite, Nalco is on the hunt for overseas assets for strategic minerals acquisition. Nalco is teaming up Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd (MECL) and Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL) to form a joint venture (JV) called 'Khanij Bidesh India Ltd' (KABIL) for this purpose. The JV is tasked with identifying, exploring, acquiring, developing and processing the strategic minerals overseas for commercial use and for supplying to India to meet the domestic requirements due to its non-availability in the country and giving a boost to Make in India drive of the Government of India. The identified strategic minerals include tin, tungsten, titanium, gallium, lithium, tantalum, cobalt, niobium, selenium and indium. The objective is to make the country self-sufficient in such minerals. The JV firm would hunt for such mineral assets primarily in South Africa and other African countries. It can either go for outright buyouts of the assets or forge tie-ups with local companies there. 

Reference - http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/nalco-eyes-bauxite-assets-in-guinea-holder-of-a-third-of-global-reserves-118032600490_1.html