GAC grants one of the largest contracts ever awarded to a 100% Guinean-owned mining company

Conakry, Republic of Guinea, Monday 06^th December 2021 — Guinea Alumina Corporation S.A. (GAC) today announced that it has awarded to Guinéenne de Prestation et de Construction (GPC) a 331 billion GNF contract (34.4 million US dollars). This is one of the largest, if not the largest contract ever awarded to a 100%-owned Guinean mining company. It will allow GPC to create 57 additional jobs, bringing its total workforce to 313.

In 2020 GAC had a short-term opportunity to export more bauxite than planned and tendered for a local Guinean mining contractor to fulfil this requirement. GPC, who was known to GAC as a civil engineering and construction company, submitted the best proposal and demonstrated its capacity and ability to meet all GAC’s requirements. GPC executed this contract safely and professionally.

“The competence shown by GPC in executing the first mining contract while strictly following our safety standards convinced us to negotiate a longer-term contract,” said GAC’s CEO Daniel Pop. “Today, we announce that GAC is extending by 16 months and quadrupling the value of its contract with GPC, which is now totalling 331 billion GNF or 34.4 million US dollars.

Mr. Pop added, “The one outstanding feature of GPC is that they have not hesitated to invest in equipment and in developing and training their people. At terms, GPC will have invested $19.4 million US dollars to close this contract.”

GPC President and Chief Executive Officer Kaba Amadou said, “First, I would like to thank GAC for trusting us and for believing in us. Indeed, GPC was construction, civil engineering and logistic, but mining was a natural development avenue for our civil engineering team as the processes are similar, although the scale is different. Thanks to this contract expansion, it is now confirmed that GPC is officially a mining company and I am looking forward to further develop the mining segment of our business.”

GPC is delivering a full-mining service to GAC. Before mining commences, the land is cleared of timber and vegetation, the topsoil is removed and stored for replacement during rehabilitation. The bauxite layer is drilled with a number of 140-millimetre blast holes in line with a predetermined plan. The blast holes are loaded with explosives and then detonated, which breaks the rock. The rock is then loaded onto trucks by excavators and then transported to GPC’s crushing platform. The ore is then crushed with 2 mobile crushers and stockpiled from where it is retrieved and hauled by GPC to GAC’s train loading area. Once the area (called a “plateau”) has been fully mined, then the rehabilitation process begins to return the land to its former state.

GAC aims to double its contribution to the Guinean economy

Like its parent company EGA, GAC aims to double its contribution to the Guinean economy by 2040. “This will be achieved by growing our own business,” said GAC’s CEO Daniel Pop, “and also by being a leader in local procurement”. Just like we did with GPC, we will continue to seek procurement opportunities by advancing the conversation with interested local actors and inspiring collaboration. Localising employment through our Guineanisation programme will continue to be front and centre stage of our strategy to double our contribution to the Guinean economy.”