Guinea cancels MoU with China's SD Mining amid bauxite permit disputes

The Guinean authorities have recently cancelled a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in July by the country's Minister of Mines, Bouna Sylla, with SD Mining, a Chinese company developing bauxite in the West African country, which aimed to reallocate a previously revoked operating permit to the latter, according to local media reports.

The disputed permit was originally held by India's Axis Minerals and leased to the Guinean Bauxite, Alumina and Aluminium Alliance (AGB2A), a joint venture between SD Mining (42%) and Guinea International Corp (GIC, 58%). The JV began operations in 2020, but the two stakeholders split ways under an agreement ratified in March 2022, which allowed each of them to pursue their projects