Mubasher: Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has announced launching the first loaded train of bauxite from its under-construction Guinea bauxite mining project.
The 80-wagon train carried about 6,800 tonnes of bauxite ore from the mine of EGA’s subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC) to the company’s facilities at Kamsar, EGA, the UAE’s largest industrial firm outside oil and gas, said in a statement.
The bauxite ore will be used in building a base-layer of bauxite at GAC’s new stockyard, the firm added, noting that the first bauxite exports are projected during the second half of 2019.
The $1.4 billion mining project is the largest greenfield investment in the world’s largest bauxite resource holder in the last four decades.
The train completed the 90-kilometre journey from the mine to the coast in less than three hours.
When the project becomes fully operational, up to six loaded bauxite trains are projected to make the journey daily from the mine to the port.
The GAC project is expected to have an annual output of 12 million tonnes of bauxite.
“This milestone is the result of many thousands of hours of planning and teamwork in Guinea involving GAC, train operator Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée, the owner of the existing rail infrastructure ANAIM, and other rail partners,” EGA’s managing director and CEO Abdulla Kalban stated.
