West could lose out to China over aluminium resources

[jpak]

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9072-2365672,00.html

WESTERN mining companies risk handing a substantial prize to China if they fail to commit billions of dollars to developing the aluminium industry of a West African republic.

The Government of Guinea has told Western miners that it will no longer allow them to exploit its vast natural resources unless they also commit to building a domestic refining and smelting industry.

While Western companies, beholden to their shareholders, are reluctant to make the large investment required, China’s state-owned industries have no such constraints and are looking to get fully involved.

Guinea has 26 per cent of the world’s known reserves of bauxite, the raw material used to make aluminium. Nearly all its ore, which is of very high quality, is exported for processing. Some of the world’s biggest miners have bauxite concessions in Guinea, including BHP Billiton, Alcoa and Alcan.

<more>

[phantom power]

1. Gee... that global market economy is a bitch.