Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Xinfa to supply bauxite from its Guinea Alumina Corporation bauxite mine in the Republic of Guinea to the Chinese company for the next five years.

Under the agreement, EGA will supply Xinfa with millions of tonnes of bauxite each year from 2020, with the first vessel scheduled to load in January.  Xinfa is one of the largest aluminium producers in China.

Last July, EGA signed a long-term agreement with Vedanta for bauxite supplies from GAC. EGA’s GAC began bauxite exports in August. EGA invested some $1.4 billion to develop the GAC project, one of the largest greenfield investments in Guinea in the past 40 years.

Zhang Gang, Chairman of Xinfa Group, said: “As a major imported bauxite consumer in China, Xinfa’s agreement with EGA will enhance our stable long-term bauxite supply. We are looking forward to achieving strategic win-win success through both Xinfa and EGA’s commitment.”

Abdulla Kalban, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said: “GAC is a new global source of high quality bauxite, responsibly produced and with cost-effective shipping using the world’s largest bulk cargo vessels. The strategy we are successfully implementing is to have a diversified customer base for GAC bauxite in major markets including China and India. We are pleased to now have Xinfa as a bauxite customer.”

Bauxite is the ore from which aluminium is derived and is refined into alumina, the feedstock for aluminium smelters. EGA provided bulk samples of GAC bauxite to potential customers during 2017.

EGA has developed a transshipment facility in Guinea to enable its bauxite to be shipped using giant Capesize vessels, lowering shipment costs per tonne.

EGA’s GAC project in Guinea, and Al Taweelah alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi which began production in April, were developed to expand EGA upstream in the aluminium value chain and internationally. The projects create new revenue streams for EGA and help secure the supply of raw materials EGA needs at competitive prices.