GUINEA BOOSTS POWER OUTPUT TO FOSTER BAUXITE REFINING

CONAKRY (Reuters) – Guinea expects to boost its energy production capacity by nearly four-fold over the next six years as it pushes mining companies to refine their bauxite output locally, the energy minister said on Friday.

The West African nation, Africa’s biggest producer of the aluminum ore, is in the midst of a mining boom that has seen bauxite output explode, mainly on the back of demand from China. It now accounts for more than half of China’s bauxite imports.

Seeking to use the mining sector to fuel economic development, the government is pressuring mining companies to commit to building facilities that will refine bauxite into higher value alumina, which is used in smelters to produce aluminum.

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