Global mining groups Rio Tinto, Alcoa, and Rusal were yesterday scrambling to determine how an attempted coup in Guinea, the world’s biggest exporter of bauxite, will affect their investments in the west African state.
The aluminium industry is heavily dependent on Guinea, the biggest exporter of bauxite, the raw material used in manufacture of the metal. Guinea, in turn, relies on mining revenues.
But an attempted coup following the death of Lansana Conte, the long-serving dictator, has thrown into uncertainty the country’s politics and policies, including the status of a $6bn iron ore project that has pitted Rio Tinto against the government in a licence dispute.