Guinea says lifts RUSAL export ban

CONAKRY, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Guinea has lifted an export ban on products from Russian metals firm RUSAL's Friguia alumina refinery, the environment ministry said on Wednesday. RUSAL shut down production at Friguia, the biggest industrial project in the West African country, last Thursday after exports from the port of Conakry were blocked following a dispute over environmental taxes. "We have decided to lift the ban on exports," Environment Minister Pape Koly Kourouma said after a meeting between his department and the mines ministry. Guinea is the world's biggest exporter of bauxite, which is refined into alumina and further treated to make aluminium. Friguia, one of Guinea's largest employers, normally produces around 52,000 tonnes of alumina per month, but that was cut by more than 50 percent in July as part of a company-wide move to reduce production in response to lower demand globally. Officials at RUSAL's Moscow headquarters were not immediately available for comment.