Guinea’s New Minw Code To Keep Companies Profitable, Fofa

Guinea’s mining code amendment will be business friendly and allow bauxite producers to compete internationally, Mines Minister Mohamed Lamine Fofana said.

The country consulted with companies on amendments to the 2011 law to ensure producers are profitable even though Guinea is further from China, the biggest market, than rival producer Indonesia, Fofana said today in an interview in Cape Town. The new code will be submitted to parliament by Feb. 15, he said.

“Our vision today is to really create a good business environment for all the companies so that there is no doubt and no more uncertainty,” the minister said.

The biggest exporter of bauxite, used to make aluminum, is also home to iron ore and gold projects run by companies such as Rio Tinto Group and Vale SA. (VALE5) Mining makes up 80 percent of the West African nation’s foreign currency inflows, Fofana says.

To contact the reporter on this story: Franz Wild in Johannesburg at fwild@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net