Guinea bauxite trains restart after protest ends

CONAKRY, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Trains used by Guinea's main bauxite exporter Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee (CBG) resumed work on Saturday after a protest that had blocked the line since Friday ended, a company official said. "Traffic has restarted. The first 120-wagon train arrived this afternoon," said the official, who asked not to be named. One person was killed during the protests in which local people in Boke, where the world's largest bauxite exporter CBG digs the aluminium ore, erected barricades on the railway line to protest over electricity shortages. U.S. metals giant Alcoa, part-owner of CBG, said late on Friday that production had not been affected by the protest. Guinean President Lansana Conte personally intervened to end the protests, the company official said. "He (Conte) brought together the local authorities and they spoke. The people understood and agreed to let trains pass," he said. Protests about poor public services are common in the west African country, where most people live in poverty despite Guinea's lucrative natural resources. Demonstrations about inadequate electricity supply often target bauxite operations as these tend to generate power for surrounding towns under their deals with the government. In October, one person was killed during a five-day power protest in the town of Mambia that stopped trains carrying bauxite for Russian aluminium firm UC RUSAL. Alcoa and Rio Tinto Alcan control the Halco joint venture that owns 51 percent of CBG, and the Guinean government holds the remainder. In July, the Guinean government said it was replacing Alcoa as manager of CBG with an interim committee. As well as bauxite, Guinea has large reserves of steel-making raw material iron ore. Rio Tinto is majority owner of the $6 billion Simandou iron ore project, which the firm says is the world's best unexploited resource.