Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) announced the successful maiden journey of its bauxite train from its subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation’s (GAC) mine to the coast of the West African country. The journey of the first loaded train marks a milestone in EGA’s Guinea bauxite mining project.
Carrying around 6,800 tonnes of bauxite, the 80-wagon train completed the 90-kilometre journey from the mine to the coast in just less than three hours. The delivered ore will be used to start a base-layer of bauxite at GAC’s new stockyard. A port facility is currently under construction and the first bauxite exports are expected during the second half of the year.
Up to six bauxite trains per day will be able to make the journey from the mine to the coast once the GAC project becomes fully operational. Aluminium producers around the globe are expected to buy bauxite from the mine, which will be able to produce around 12 million tonnes of bauxite per year.
Milestone for Emirates Global Aluminium's #Guinea project as first #bauxite train travels from mine to coasthttps://t.co/imRFqapY08 pic.twitter.com/WEyxXE8mCa
— FACE aluminium (@face_aluminium) January 23, 2019
Abdulla Kalban, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said:
“This milestone is the result of many thousands of hours of planning and teamwork in Guinea involving GAC, train operator Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée, the owner of the existing rail infrastructure ANAIM, and other rail partners. I would like to thank everyone for their contribution to the safe and successful completion of this first journey as well as our neighbours. We are making good progress in Guinea, and look forward to first bauxite exports later in the year.”
Guinea has the world’s largest bauxite reserves, and EGA’s Guinea project forms part of the company’s strategy to expand its business upstream in the aluminium value chain and internationally. RGA is also constructing the UAE’s first alumina refinery at Al Taweelah in Abu Dhabi. Around 90 per cent of EGA’s metal is exported, and its aluminium is the second largest segment in the UAE exports after oil and gas, making the UAE the world’s fifth-biggest aluminium-producing country.
Earlier this week, the Gulf Aluminium Council (GCC) announced that the primary aluminium producers belonging to the association collectively produced 5,408,257 tonnes of high quality primary aluminium in 2018 for the domestic and international markets. This represents an increase of around 230,000 tonnes compared to 2017. The GCC members are contributing around 10 per cent of the world aluminium demand.