Mr Samuel A. Jinapor, minister for Lands and Natural Resources says the Ghana Bauxite Company (GBC) is well positioned to become the anchor of Ghana’s integrated aluminum industry.
According to him, GBC, which has been in existence for over eighty (80) years can increase production through strategic partnership and investment to support the President’s vision of building an integrated aluminum industry to spur industrialisation and socio-economic development of Ghana.
The Minister was speaking at the twenty-seventh (27th) edition of Fastmarkets Bauxite and Alumina Conference, held in Miami in the United States of America recently.
The Conference, held annually, is the largest bauxite conference in the world and brings together producers, miners, suppliers, analysts, refiners and other experts in the Bauxite, Alumina and Aluminium industry from across the world, to deliberate on emerging issues in the bauxite and aluminium industry.
Speaking to investors on the second day of the Conference, Mr. Jinapor said Ghana Bauxite Company produces premium trihydrate bauxite with typical alumina content of fifty-two percent (52%), which makes its products very competitive on the international market.
He said Ghana has the capacity to produce over ten million metric tonnes (10,000,000Mt) of bauxite annually, but is currently producing just a little over one million metric tonnes (1,000,000Mt).
According to Mr. Jinapor, the low production is largely due to lack of investment in the Company over the years. The Ghana Bauxite Company has, since its establishment, been controlled by foreigners, until 2021 when Ofori-Poku Company Limited (OPCL), acquired the eighty percent (80%) shares of the Company previously held by a Chinese company, Bosai. The remaining twenty percent (20%) shares of the company is held by Government, through the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC), making the Company wholly Ghanaian-owned.
Mr. Jinapor said the current management of the Company, led by Mr. Isaac Ofori-Poku, the Executive Chairman, has made huge investments in the company since the take-over, and has brought efficiency into the company and returned it to profitability. He said the company currently requires about One Hundred and Twenty Million US Dollars (US$120,000,000.00) to retool its existing plant and machinery, to produce a minimum of five million metric tonnes (5,000,000Mt) annually.
In addition to increasing production, the Company plans to construct a one point six million metric tonnes (1.6 million Mt) per annum capacity refinery to refine part of the bauxite it mines.
This, the Minister said, will become the fulcrum of the integrated aluminium industry, with the Company mining and refining bauxite to supply the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) with alumina, to smelt into aluminium for the downstream industry.
He called on the investor community to partner with Ghana Bauxite Company to realise its full potentials.
“The profitability of Ghana Bauxite Company is not in doubt and promises good returns on investment,” the Minister said.
Mr. Jinapor underscored the need to build an integrated aluminium industry in the country. He said of the over One Hundred and Eighty Billion US Dollars (US$180,000,000,000.00) aluminium industry market, only 7.66 is generated from raw bauxite, while the rest is generated from processed bauxite.
He said it is not enough to mine and export our bauxite if we are to derive optimal benefit from the mineral. He said in accordance with its mandate to promote and develop an integrated industry, GIADEC is implementing a Four-Project Agenda, to expand the existing bauxite mine and add a refinery solution, develop three (3) additional mines together with refineries, and modernise and retrofit VALCO, to smelt alumina produced in Ghana.
He said the three new mines, together with the existing one operated by the Ghana Bauxite Company, are expected to produce ten to twenty million tonnes of bauxite annually, of which approximately half will be refined in Ghana. He wooed investors to take advantage of this promising industry and invest in Ghana.
