Mubadala Development Company, an investment and development vehicle established and wholly owned by the Government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and Dubai Aluminium Company Limited (DUBAL), has announced that it has entered into a strategic joint venture to develop and operate the Sangaredi Refinery Project in the Republic of Guinea. The other parties to the joint venture agreement are Broken Hill Proprietary Company Pty Limited (BHP Billiton), Global Alumina International Ltd (GAI).
In terms of the agreement the partners will make a substantial investment in Guinea Alumina Corporation Ltd (GAC), presently a wholly-owned subsidiary of GAI, by way of share subscriptions which will result in Mubadala owning an 8.33%.stake in GAC. DUBAL will own 25%. GAI and BHP will each hold 33.33%.
Guinea is known to have around a third of the world's bauxite reserves. As such, the Sangaredi Refinery Project will give the partners long-life access to low cost alumina.
The Sangaredi Refinery Project, with an estimated cost of around US$ 3 billion which will be finance through a 70 - 30 debt equity. The refinery will have the capacity to produce 3 million tonnes of alumina a year. The refinery site is located 100 km inland from Kamsar and has access to an existing rail infrastructure linking it to the Port of Kamsar, where dedicated facilities are already under construction. The development will also include a 9 million mt/year bauxite mine and associated infrastructure. A 690 km2 mining concession, with estimated reserves of around 1 billion tonnes of bauxite, has been secured.