Akufo-Addo declares shift from Bauxite export, pledges refining for VALCO and downstream industry

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has affirmed Ghana’s commitment to transition from exporting raw bauxite to refining it locally, producing alumina designated for supply to the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO) and the broader downstream aluminium industry.

Speaking at Ghana’s 67th Independence Day parade in Koforidua on March 6, the President expressed optimism that this transformative initiative

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“We are finally coming to the end of decades of exporting raw bauxite from the country. We shall now refine bauxite, mined in Ghana, to produce alumina that will feed the VALCO smelter and the downstream aluminium industry, which is going to have a dramatic impact on Ghanaian industrialisation when we produce parts for motor vehicles, aircraft, roofing sheets, and home utensils.

“It has taken a long time for us to get to this stage, but we have taken the trouble to make sure that we get it right,” he promised.

President Akufo-Addo also assured that once the litigation over the Atewa Forest Range in Kyebi is settled, the forest will be developed to help alleviate unemployment in the area.

“As an indigene, I hope that, once litigation over the Atewa Forest Range, in Kyebi, is settled, we will be able to develop also the Kyebi bauxite mine and refinery, that will help deliver employment and high-paying jobs for our people, and also ensure integration and value addition across the bauxite/aluminium value chain,” he assured.