Afrique

31 mai 2016

Guinea-Conakry: Maximising Linkages

 

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Africa/Guinea

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Guinea-Conakry is one of the world's top bauxite producers, but it also has the potential to realise the opportunities of mining industrial minerals and construction materials. In the past five years, the country has overcome political and economic challenges and successfully dealt with the impact of the Ebola Virus Disease. Despite the positive outlook, infrastructure challenges and the informal nature of industrial minerals commodity development limit the scope of information available on the contribution of these minerals to the economy.

Guinea-Conakry is one of the six focus countries of the ACP-EU Development Minerals Programme. A roadmap is under development to guide the programme implementation. Quarries in areas like Dubréka and Manéah are a source of income for rural communities and have the potential, if formalised and properly managed, to meet the demands of a growing urban populace. Furthermore, there is scope for stronger economic linkages with large-scale infrastructure projects such as Simandou Project's rail, port and ancillary infrastructure, as well as Kaleta's multimillion dollar hydropower plant, which according to Bloomberg (2015) will almost double the West African country's energy output and supply neighboring countries such as Guinea-Bissau, Gambia and Senegal.