MINING calls the consortium “ a union of some of the strongest companies in their respective sectors ”. Said firms are the Chinese Wei Qiao Group ( biggest aluminium manufacturer in the world ), Singaporean Winning International Group ( transporter of 90 percent of Chinese bauxite imports ), UMS Guinée SARL ( leader in West African logistics ) and the State of Guinea , which is a 10 percent shareholder in the project .
A year after forming , SMB-WAP ’ s first barge carried bauxite from
Guinea ’ s port of Katougma . Before the consortium could achieve this goal , it needed to acquire permits from the government . “ We firstly obtained a surveying permit so that we could do reconnaissance ourselves on an area that was not limited to the main mining body area in Guinea , in fact the first mine we explored and exploited had never been fallen into the radar of any other party – when the others sit on the country ’ s high grade reserves for decades without
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