A worker arranges the aluminum rolls at a factory in Suixi county in central China's Anhui province. China is the primary driver for aluminium demand worldwide. (Chinatopix via AP, File)
A worker arranges the aluminum rolls at a factory in Suixi county in central China's Anhui province. China is the primary driver for aluminium demand worldwide. (Chinatopix via AP, File)

Guinea gives go-ahead to $2.8 bln Chinese bauxite, aluminium investments



Guinea's government has approved a more than US$2.8 billion investment by Chinese company TBEA in a new bauxite mine, an aluminium refinery and an aluminium smelter, the mines ministry said on Friday.

Guinea has about a third of the world's bauxite reserves but output has lagged, largely due to political instability. The West African country also lacks facilities to transform those reserves into higher-grade and more lucrative alumina.

But bauxite production is expected to roughly double this year to about 50 million tonnes and a consortium involving Singapore's Winning Shipping said this month that it plans to start building Guinea's first alumina refinery in 2019.

The TBEA mine should enter production by mid-2019 with an initial capacity of 10 million tonnes of bauxite per year that will rise to 30 million tonnes the following year, Saadou Nimaga, secretary-general of the mines ministry, told Reuters.

An aluminium refinery with an annual capacity of 1 million tonnes is expected to be completed by June 2021 and construction of the smelter should begin around 2025, Nimaga said. He added that TBEA plans to import a 75 megawatt (MW) thermal plant and construct a 300 MW hydroelectric dam to power the installations.

The bauxite industry's significance to Guinea's economy has grown in recent years after development of huge iron ore deposits in its forested interior stalled when global commodities prices crashed in 2014.

The industry's development, however, has been slowed by riots in the northwest over the mining industry's perceived failure to raise living standards. At least two people were killed in a September protest in the town of Boke.

Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021

Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.

The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.

These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.

“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.

“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.

“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.

“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”

Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.

There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.

“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.

“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.

“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”

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