Chinese company Bonsai Minerals to invest $1.2b in Ghana’s bauxite, aluminium sector
The Bonsai Minerals Group of China is teaming up with the Government of Ghana with a $1.2 billion investment to revive Ghana’s bauxite, aluminium and allied industries.
Letters of Intent to provide the framework to fast-track the development of the project have been signed among the partners, in a chain of achievements that have characterised President John Evans Atta Mills’ state visit to China.
The project involves the development of the Ghana Aluminium Refinery Plant and associated infrastructure such as electricity, water and roads to support the project. The partners are the Bosai Minerals Group, the China-Africa Fund and the Government of Ghana.
The proposed plant which would be establshed in Awaso in 2014, to revive the bauxite industry, would have a final capacity of two million tons of bauxite per annum.
Ghana Government owns 20 per cent, while Bosai has 80 per cent in the proposed investment.
Bosai acquired all the interest of Rio-Tinto-Alcan in the Ghana Bauxite Company at Awaso last February, and has since been poised to increase bauxite production to 1.5 million tons by 2011.
Mr Zlin Yuan, Managing Director of the Company, announced during an interaction with President Mills at Chongqing, that the investment would involve bauxite exploration as well as the processing of alumina for export to the Asian market and the rest of the world.
According to Mr Yuan, the improvement of the supporting infrastructure is a necessary condition for the objectives of the investment strategy to be achieved.
He acknowledged the commitment of the Government of Ghana to increase investment in infrastructure to facilitate the development of the alumina refinery plant and also to generally promote more direct investment in Ghana.
President Mills, who was earlier hosted to a banquet by City Mayor Huang Qifan, assured the meeting that the Government of Ghana would fulfil its part with the provision of the necessary environment so that the investment would yield fruitful results.
Accompanied by a delegation of Ghana’s entrepreneurs and business people, President Mills invited the Chinese investors to dialogue with his delegation to identify areas of further cooperation for mutual benefits.
President Mills was earlier taken on a tour of the Three Gorges Musuem, which was in the inner city of Chongqing.
He later held talks with officials of the Foreign Affairs Municipal Authority of Shenzen.
Source: GNA