Guinea-Conakry’s president Alpha Conde officially opens Bel Air Mine

11 December 2018

Africa Finance Corporation (“AFC” or “the Corporation”), the leading infrastructure development finance institution in Africa, is pleased to announce the official opening of the Bel Air mine in Guinea-Conakry, a high-grade bauxite mine.

The official opening was attended by His Excellency, Alpha Conde, President of Guinea-Conakry, Abdoulaye Magassouba, Minister of Mines, Members of Parliament, Ambassadors from the United Kingdom and United States as well as local dignitaries.

To date, more than a million tonnes of high-grade bauxite ore have been exported from the project, following completion and first shipment to China in August 2018. Alufer Mining Limited, which operates Bel Air, intends to reach a production capacity of 5.5 million tonnes per year, significantly adding to the country’s existing exports of c.35 million tonnes of bauxite.

Samaila Zubairu, President & CEO of Africa Finance Corporation commented on the announcement: “Bauxite is a major commodity for Guinea-Conakry. Currently, exports of the mineral account for approximately 32% of all exports and is therefore a major factor in the country’s economic growth and job creation.

“As an investor in the project, we are delighted to report the Bel Air mine was delivered on time and on budget, a commendable testament to the capacity and commitment of both the management of Alufer, as well as the local community who have shown strong support to this project.”

Bernie Pryor, CEO of Alufer Mining also commented, “We were delighted to host the President, Government and local officials on site to formally mark the opening of the mine and also appreciate the progress we have made at Bel Air.

“We are very pleased to have successfully ramped up the project in such a short timeframe and look forward to reaching steady state production in the near future. Our ability to achieve this is indicative of our robust construction and engineering plans and I would like to thank our team and contractors involved with this project for all their hard work to date.”