Learn more aboutRefinitiv
My News
Breaking
Trump asks for swift deposition of Murdoch in Epstein defamation case
Ghana cancels $1.2 billion bauxite deal, eyes global partnership, sources say
By Maxwell Akalaare Adombila
July 28, 20251:38 PM GMTUpdated 2 hours ago
Summary
Companies
GIADEC seeks new investors, including EGA and Chinese firms – sources
EGA eyeing new supplies after losing Guinea licence
ACCRA, July 28 (Reuters) – Ghana has cancelled a $1.2 billion bauxite lease with local firm Rocksure International, seeking a partnership instead with a big overseas company to tap one of West Africa’s richest deposits, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Potential partners include Dubai-based Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) or a Chinese firm, two of the sources said.
The Reuters Power Up newsletter provides everything you need to know about the global energy industry. Sign up here.
The termination marks a strategic pivot by Ghana, which holds an estimated 900 million metric tons of bauxite, the seventh largest globally, but has struggled to attract sustained investment in mining and refining infrastructure.
Rocksure’s lease covered the Nyinahin Hills in central Ghana, home to about 376 million tons of bauxite, the feedstock for aluminium.
It was the basis for a joint venture between Rocksure and the state-owned Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) to build a mine and alumina refinery, with Rocksure holding 70% of the Asante Bauxite Company JV. GIADEC and the government owned 20% and 10%, respectively.
The lease was never ratified by parliament, rendering it void under a 2019 Supreme Court ruling.
“By the Exton Cubic ruling, without ratification, you have no lease,” one of the sources said, adding that the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources had informed Rocksure.
GIADEC declined to comment, citing ongoing negotiations. The lands ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Rocksure also declined to comment.
Another of the sources said the firm had not been formally notified of the termination, only that GIADEC was exiting the JV.
Ghana, Africa’s top gold producer, lags in bauxite production behind regional peers like Guinea, a global bauxite giant.
GIADEC is now actively courting new investors, including EGA and several Chinese firms, the GIADEC source said.
EGA, which lost its mining license in Guinea over delays in building a refinery, signed a memorandum of understanding with GIADEC in June to explore opportunities in Ghana.
