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SMB, Winning Shipping plan US$3B construction of 1st alumina refinery in Guinea

A consortium comprising Societe Miniere de Boke, or SMB, and Singapore's Winning Shipping is eyeing construction of the first alumina refinery in Guinea with a US$3 billion investment, Reuters reported Dec. 4.

The construction of the 1-million-tonne-per-annum refinery is expected to start in 2019 and is slated for completion in 2022.

Guinea expects to produce over 30 million tonnes of bauxite this year, but the West African country has no facilities to process the product into higher-grade alumina.

"The local processing of raw materials is one of the biggest challenges for a more inclusive growth in Africa because it creates more value locally while leading to economic diversification," said Frederic Bouzigues, managing director of SMB.

The project will also see the construction of a 120-kilometer railway connecting SMB's bauxite mines in Boke to the refinery in Dapilon, for processing the raw material for export as alumina, mainly to China.

Winning Shipping, China's Shandong Weiqiao, UMS International Ltd. and the Guinean state own SMB.