Chinalco Breaks Ground for $1B Alumina Refinery in Boffa

On 13 June 2026, Chinalco officially broke ground at its alumina refinery in Boffa, Guinea. The Project is estimated to cost USD one billion and is designed for a production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes of alumina annually. The groundbreaking ceremony follows the agreement signed between Chalco, a subsidiary of China Aluminum Corporation (Chinalco), and the Government of Guinea in May 2026.

The Government of Guinea was represented by Amara Camara, Secretary-General of the Presidency, and Djiba Diakite, President of the Strategic Committee for Simandou. Chinalco Chairman DUAN Xiangdong and China’s Ambassador SUN Yong were also in attendance.

The refinery will support up to 1,200 direct and indirect jobs. Chalco has committed to provide 500 scholarships for technical and engineering capacity building over a twenty-year period. In addition, Chalco has set up a local training center in Boffa to train up to 100 Guineans every year to meet its talent needs.

Guinea possesses 40% of the global reserves of bauxite ore and accounts for 80% of China’s imports. In 2025, Guinea exported more than 180 million tonnes of bauxite to China, representing a 25% year-on-year increase.

Chinalco’s refinery will be the third one in Guinea, following similar projects by the Singapore-based Winning Consortium and China’s State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC). The implementation of the third refinery confirms the momentum in Guinea’s movement toward more local value addition and is aligned with Africa’s industrialization drive. These initiatives also form part of Guinea’s Simandou Vision 2040 (#Simandou2040), which plans to have at least five local alumina refineries.