Bauxite miner Axis launches $29bn claim against Guinea

Keep knowledgeable with free updatesSimply signal as much as the Mining myFT Digest — delivered on to your inbox.Guinea’s second-largest bauxite producer has launched a $29bn arbitration case in opposition to the West African authorities.United Arab Emirates-based Axis Worldwide stated it had initiated the case earlier than the World Financial institution following the “unlawful revocation” of its mining allow in Guinea this 12 months, when it stated the federal government had additionally seized its mining tools and frozen its financial institution accounts.Guinea is the world’s largest exporter of bauxite, the principle ingredient of aluminium, producing a few third of the globally mined materials, in keeping with the US Geological Survey. Nonetheless, the Guinean authorities has revoked a swath of licences this 12 months throughout its gold, bauxite, diamond, graphite and iron sectors as the federal government of President Mamadi Doumbouya seeks to extract extra worth from the nation’s important mineral assets. Doumbouya, who got here to energy in a 2021 coup, pressured firms from China, Singapore and the Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto to work collectively to finish the $23bn Simandou iron ore mine, rail and port mission. His authorities has made it a requirement that Simandou and different mining initiatives transfer to finishing up pelletisation, which turns iron ore into higher-value pellets, and ultimately refining domestically as a part of a programme — often known as Simandou 2040 — to make use of pure assets to develop the nation.Doumbouya, who’s looking for to legitimise his management via elections held on Sunday, has made the useful resource situation central to his presidential marketing campaign. Guinea’s extra assertive actions are a part of a broader useful resource nationalism development within the area.In neighbouring Mali, Barrick Mining in November reached a deal to finish a long-running dispute with the federal government that had led to the corporate dropping management of one among its most efficient property.Many resource-rich nations have stepped up their efforts to seize extra of the worth from the mining business this 12 months, as nations all through the world renew their curiosity in crucial minerals. Analysts at BMI stated this month that they anticipated the Guinean authorities to demand that extra bauxite processing happen within the nation and predicted a “full-scale ban on bauxite exports by Guinea as a high-probability occasion in 2026”.Bouna Sylla, Guinea’s mining minister, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark about Axis. However in an interview with the Monetary Instances in November he stated that firms that breached agreements could be penalised. Sylla objected to the time period “expropriation” in relation to the revocation of an settlement with Emirates International Aluminium, which ran a bauxite mine within the nation, saying it had failed to fulfill a stipulation that it construct an aluminium refinery. Firms that complied with agreements had nothing to worry, he stated. Axis stated it was looking for no less than $29bn in damages in relation to its bauxite mine within the western Boké area, about 150km from the capital Conakry. The arbitration is being managed by the Worldwide Centre for the Settlement of Funding Disputes, an arm of the World Financial institution.Axis Worldwide owns 85 per cent of Axis Minerals Assets — which held the native allow — whereas the Guinean state owns the remaining minority stake. The mine is operated by a neighborhood associate, Alliance Guinéenne de Bauxite d’Alumine et d’Aluminium.Axis stated it had filed the lawsuit on Christmas Day after the federal government had “ignored a number of makes an attempt at settlement discussions”.The corporate stated it had misplaced its allow for the bauxite mine in Might “with out discover to or dialogue with Axis Minerals or its shareholders”. Lawmakers had claimed to be concentrating on “non-operational or underutilised mines”, the corporate stated.Nonetheless, Axis stated its mine had been exporting mined materials since 2020, and in 2024 had been the nation’s second-largest producer of bauxite ore exports.RecommendedBefore its licence was revoked this 12 months, Axis had been on monitor to provide 48mn tonnes in 2025, it stated. Axis Worldwide’s founder, Pankaj Oswal, stated the corporate had contributed “materially to Guinea’s economic system” since getting into the nation in 2013. Vasundhara Oswal, director-general of Axis Worldwide, stated the mine supported 5,000 direct and oblique employees and their households in Boffa, an space of Boké. “The sudden termination of the allow has had a direct and damaging affect on the folks,” she stated.