Guinea talks alumina and energy investments with Glencore following bauxite deals, says minister

Guinea's mines minister revealed that the country is in discussions with Glencore about investment opportunities beyond last week’s bauxite deal. The goal of this discussion is to diversify Guinea’s funding sources and expand its export markets outside China.

Last week, Guinea's Nimba Mining, a state-owned company, and diversified miner Glencore, a trader and diversified mining firm, signed a pre-financing agreement and an offtake agreement for bauxite worth more than $300m. This gives Glencore a foothold in?Guinea which has some of the largest bauxite deposits on earth.

The companies stated that under the terms of a?deal?, the Swiss commodities company will market 10-12 millions metric tons of aluminium feedstock each year over the next five years.

Bouna Sylla, Guinea's Mines minister, said that the agreement could serve as a springboard to Glencore?to invest in the aluminium sector of the country?as Conakry?pushes?to develop?domestic processing capacity.

Sylla said over the weekend that Glencore has expressed a strong interest in growing their business in Guinea. We are also interested in expanding our partnership.

We will expand our partnership with Glencore to include alumina refinement, energy, and other strategic investments.

Glencore has declined to provide any further comment.

More than 70% of Guinée's Bauxite exports go to China

Guinea became the largest bauxite-producing country in the world in 2023. The giant Simandou iron ore project began exports in 2025.

Simandou is owned by Chinese firms, and more than 70% of its bauxite exports are sent to China. The other owner of the project is Rio Tinto, with whom Glencore had merger talks earlier in the year.

Sylla stated that the Glencore agreement, and recent settlement of long-running dispute between Middle East aluminium producer 'Emirates Global Aluminium and a broader strategy to diversify partners while maintaining strong ties with China.

He said that "China is still an important partner but Guinea wants to strengthen its ties with the Middle East, and other areas."

(source: Reuters)