Moscow, February 19 (Interfax) - The government of Guinea and United Company RUSAL (UC RUSAL) will form a commission to foster long-term cooperation before March 1, the company said in a press release.
"The decision to establish this commission was reached during negotiations between the Guinean Government and RUSAL. Guinean Prime Minister Jean-Marie Dore and RUSAL’s Head of Alumina Division Pavel Ovchinnikov took part in the negotiations. The parties confirmed their strategic partnership and underscored the need to continue the cooperation between RUSAL and Guinea," the press release says.
RUSAL, the world’s biggest aluminum producer, owns the ACG/Friguia complex and manages Societe des Bauxites de Kindia in Guinea. The Friguia complex has capacity to produce 1.9 million tonnes of bauxite a year. The two operations supply 63% of the bauxite that RUSAL consumes.
It was reported earlier that the new government of Guinea believes the privatization of Friguia was illegal. It commissioned an independent appraisal that found economic damages totaled $860 million.
In April 2009 Guinean President Moussa Camara ordered the Justice Ministry to open a case against RUSAL’s purchase of Friguia in 2006. Camara said RUSAL paid $19 million for Friguia, although the complex had been independently valued at $257 million.
In September 2009 lower court in Conakry invalidated the transfer of shares in the Friguia complex to RUSAL. Camara’s advisor Momo Sacko later told Bloomberg that Guinea might seek a new partner for the project.
RUSAL appealed that ruling and is simultaneously seeking international arbitration in Paris, as the privatization agreement concluded in 2006 is regulated by French law.
