Guinea Alumina Corporation
Guinea Alumina Corporation is our wholly-owned bauxite mining subsidiary in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa. Bauxite is the ore from which aluminium is derived. Exports of bauxite ore began in 2019.
GAC operates a 690-square kilometre mining concession, located in the northwest of Guinea. Once mined, bauxite is transported to GAC’s port at Kamsar by train using shared rail infrastructure.
Bauxite from GAC is predominantly supplied by EGA to third-party customers, with some shipped to our Al Taweelah alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi.
A second phase of the GAC project envisages construction of an alumina refinery in Guinea, delivering further value for the nation.
GAC’s bauxite has one of the highest ratios of alumina to silica, as well as relatively low boehmite. These properties make it suitable for processing in a wide range of refinery operating conditions, from low to high temperatures as well as double-digestion refineries at comparably low operating costs.
GAC has some of the largest equipment ever installed on an African mining project. The stacker/reclaimer at Kamsar is is 125 metres long - longer than a soccer field - 25 metres tall, and weighs 1,300 tonnes.
GAC’s mine and port are some 90 kilometres apart. Trains transport ore to the coast. Each train consists of three locomotives and 150 wagons. Each wagon can hold 86 tonnes of ore.
Bauxite is loaded onto barges using a system of conveyors. EGA operates a transhipment location 37 kilometres away, in deeper water. This enables EGA to use vessels up to Capesize for ocean shipping.
Capesize vessels are around 300 metres long, 50 metres wide, and can carry some 180,000 tonnes of bauxite.
Over 3,200 people work at GAC. Some 96 per cent of GAC’s total workforce is Guinean.
From health awareness programmes to vocational training and environmental projects, we have invested millions of dollars in community initiatives that have enabled recipients to conduct income-generating activities and support their families and communities.
Guinea is the world's largest bauxite resource holder, with more than a quarter of the known global endowment of this important mineral for modern life.
In 2023, in a first for both Guinea and Africa as a whole, GAC was certified to the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative Performance Standard. ASI certification is the global aluminium industry’s internationally-recognised standard for environmental and social performance and governance.
One of the largest greenfield investments in Guinea in four decades
Guinea Alumina Corporation was built as part of our strategic expansion upstream in the aluminium value chain, creating new revenue streams for EGA and securing the competitive supply of raw materials we need.
Learn more about the construction of this project