Nyinahin Bauxite: Gov’t signs $1.2bn Mining Deal as GIADEC holds 30% stake

Rocksure International and Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Company has signed a strategic mining agreement to develop the Nyinahin-Mpasaaso bauxite resources.

The deal valued at US$1.2 billion in all consist of a US$200 million construction of a bauxite mine at Nyinahin-Mpasaaso in the Ashanti region of Ghana and a bauxite refinery of about US$1.0 billion.

Ghana government announced last week that, it has picked Rocksure International as a strategic partner to help in developing a bauxite industry. Ghana’s bauxite reserves are estimated at 900 million tonnes.

“Rocksure will own a 70 percent stake in the project and the state-owned Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development will have the remaining 30 percent”, Michael Ansah, Chief Executive Officer of GIADEC said in an emailed statement last week.

The mine is expected to produce 5 million tonnes of bauxite a year and create more than 1,000 jobs, according to GIADEC.

Ghana has the potential to produce 10 million to 20 million tons a year, according to the state company founded in 2018 to create an integrated industry for the mineral.

Bauxite is a reddish ore that must be refined into alumina and then smelted to produce aluminium.

GIADEC is looking to partner with private companies to develop infrastructure worth as much as $6 billion to leverage the West African nation’s bauxite.

The $1.2 billion project is one of four for which GIADEC is seeking investors.

By Adnan Adams Mohammed