By Alex MacDonald
LONDON--Guinea's Ministry of Mines Friday officially launched a
new website to inform its citizens, investors and other
stakeholders about the review process of mining titles and
contracts in a bid to improve transparency and accountability.
The ministry said the most important feature of the website
would be easy accessibility to all existing mining conventions,
amendments or other related legal documents by category, project or
keyword.
"The website is the result of months of work, the outcome of a
fruitful collaboration between the Government of the Republic of
Guinea, mining companies, Guinean and international civil society
organizations, with the support of the World Bank Institute and the
Revenue Watch Institute," said Nava Toure, President of the
Technical Committee for the Review of Mining Titles and
Conventions.
Projects listed on the registry include the two massive iron ore
projects being developed by Rio Tinto (RIO) and Vale SA (VALE)
respectively in consortium with their partners. Rio has partnered
with Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. (ACH) and the International
Finance Corp. while Vale has partnered with privately owned BSG
Resources Ltd.
It also includes a bauxite project being developed by Russia's
United Co. Rusal PLC (0486.HK), which would be able to produce 3
million metric tons annually of the ingredient used to make
aluminum from 2016.
The Guinean government adopted a new mining code in September
2011 and in January 2012 began the systematic review of all
existing mining contracts to make sure they comply with the code
and international best practice. The website is part of its plan to
increase transparency and accountability within the mining
sector.
The mining sector accounts for 20% of Guinea's gross domestic
product and it holds about two thirds of the world's bauxite. It is
the world's fifth largest bauxite producer, according to a mining
ministry presentation.
The website is www.contratsminiersguinee.org
-Write to Alex MacDonald at alex.macdonald@dowjones.com
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