BHP Has Not Had Any Talks With Guinea Military Junta

Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- BHP Billiton Ltd., building a $4.8 billion alumina refinery in Guinea, said it has not had any talks with the West African nation’s military junta after all mining contracts in the country were canceled. “We haven’t been approached” about BHP’s mining activities in the country, Samantha Evans, spokeswoman for the Melbourne- based company, said today. The company’s office in Guinea’s capital of Conakry is open, she said. Led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, the junta took control on Dec. 23 after President Lansana Conte died and scrapped all mining agreements. Rio Tinto Group, which is considering building a $6 billion iron-ore project in Guinea, said yesterday it will seek talks with the junta over plans to revise the contracts. Alcoa Inc., United Co. Rusal and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. also have operations in the country. BHP’s Guinea project, a partnership with New York-based Global Alumina Corp., is “the world’s most wonderful bauxite resource,” BHP’s Chief Executive Officer Marius Kloppers has said. The refinery will have an initial annual production capacity of 3.3 million metric tons and will increase it to 3.6 million tons within five years. A third processing line at the plant may eventually boost production to more than 5.4 million tons, Global Alumina said on March 25. Guinea, a nation of 9.4 million people, has the world’s biggest reserves of bauxite, an ore used to make aluminum. The country produced 14 million metric tons of bauxite last year, according to the U.S. Geological Service. Guinea also has deposits of gold and diamonds.