Ghana’s integrated aluminium industry on course – Lands Minister

ite, iron ore, lithium and other green minerals.

Speaking speci cally on bauxite, Mr. Jinapor said while the raw ore sells for around Sixty US Dollars (US$60.00) per metric tonne, primary aluminium, produced from bauxite, sells for over Two Thousand US Dollars (US$2,000.00) per metric tonne.

He said Ghana has an estimated bauxite resource base of over nine hundred million metric tonnes

(900,000,000Mt), capable of creating some two million sustainable jobs, and generating over One Trillion US Dollars in revenue if fully integrated. Unfortunately, we have, over the years, failed to make the needed investment in this area.

He expressed Government’s optimism on the contribution of a fully-integrated aluminium industry to socio-economic development.

“It is for this reason that in 2018, the President of the Republic, H.E.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, took that bold decision to establish, by an Act of Parliament, the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC), to promote and develop an integrated aluminium industry, here in our country,” the Minster said.

According to Mr. Jinapor, GIADEC has, since its establishment, developed a Masterplan for the upstream sector, and is implementing its Four Project Agenda, to expand the existing mine, build three addi- tional mines, build re neries, and modernise the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO), with all four projects at various stages of implementation. It is therefore necessary to prepare the downstream industry and make it ready to o -take products from the upstream industry.

He urged participants at the workshop to bring their expertise to bear, and come out with policy options and plans that that will help build a robust, functioning and vibrant downstream aluminium industry that contributes, meaningfully, to our national economy.

Other participants at the workshop included senior o cials of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Overseas Development Institute, the Africa Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat, and companies in the upstream and downstream aluminium industry.