Barge loader is the final major piece of equipment to arrive in Guinea in series of engineering feats, as construction nears completion later this year

United Arab Emirates: Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, today announced that the final major piece of equipment for its under-development bauxite mining project in the Republic of Guinea has arrived in the West African country.

The Barge Loader, which is the height of a four-storey building, was shipped to Guinea from ThyssenKrupp’s fabrication facility in India. It will now be installed at the end of the project’s 1.5 kilometre pier, where it will load bauxite ore into self-propelled barges for transport to waiting bulk cargo ships offshore.

The Barge Loader is the last in a series of massive pieces of equipment for the project to arrive in Guinea, which includes some of the largest ever installed in a mining project in Africa.

Abdulla Kalban, EGA’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, said: “All the major pieces of equipment for our Guinea project have now safely arrived, completing a series of challenging engineering and logistical feats. Construction overall is very well advanced and we look forward to its safe completion and the start of bauxite exports later this year.”

The project is being developed by EGA’s subsidiary Guinea Alumina Corporation, and has a total budgeted project cost of approximately $1.4 billion. First bauxite exports are expected during the second half of 2019.

EGA’s Guinea mining project is part of the aluminium giant’s strategic growth upstream in the aluminium value chain, creating new revenue streams for the company and securing the competitive supply of the natural resources it needs. EGA is also developing Al Taweelah alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi, which is in the final stages of commissioning.

Bauxite is the ore from which aluminium is derived. Bauxite is refined into alumina, which is the feedstock for aluminium smelters. EGA operates aluminium smelters in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and its production makes the UAE the fifth biggest producer of the metal in the world.