Mining in Africa Today - Strategies and Prospects (UNU, 1987, 91 pages): 9. Mining or industrialization specialization?: Bauxite processing and aluminium production in Africa

Mining in Africa Today - Strategies and Prospects (UNU, 1987, 91 pages)

(introduction...)

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction

1. Deficit in the north, specialization in the south

(introduction...)

Mineral specialization in Africa

Mining countries and mineral specialization

2. Africa in world mining geography

3. Trends in mineral specialization

(introduction...)

Africa's specialization and world demand

4. Control of the world mineral industry

(introduction...)

The aluminium oligopoly

The copper oligopoly

Concentration in the iron and uranium sectors

5. The technology of mining and metallurgy

6. The strategies of transnationals

(introduction...)

Technological strategies

Investment diversification strategies

Collective investments

Finance strategies

7. Control of African mineral fields

8. Mine rents and mineral prices

9. Mining or industrialization specialization?

(introduction...)

The unbalanced processing of copper in Africa

Bauxite processing and aluminium production in Africa

Iron ore export and steel production

10. The myth of relocation

11. Conclusion

Bauxite processing and aluminium production in Africa

Aluminium consumption is extremely low in Africa, outside South Africa, and is mainly concentrated in North Africa, Egypt and Nigeria. Consumption levels are, however, far from those of developed countries (22 kilograms per head in the USA, 15 in Japan, 7 in France and in the USSR).

Aluminium production in Africa is about three times higher than consumption, but while the former is, for the most part, exported, the latter is covered mainly by imports. Africa's relative shares in world output are 14% for bauxite, 0.02% for alumina and 2.6% for aluminium. Although exceeding the domestic needs, aluminium output is well below the level which could be reached by processing all local bauxite, and this applies to an ever greater extent to alumina. Also, the fact that aluminium production is higher than the production of alumina implies that the former depends on imported alumina. While the aluminium refineries of Ghana, Egypt, and Cameroun import alumina, the bauxite producers export their production in a raw form.

There are, however, important investment projects for aluminium, in Guinea, of course, but also in Cameroun, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Zaire and Madagascar. The most advanced are on the bauxite fields of Tougue, Dabola and Ayekoye in Guinea. The size of each of these projects is equivalent to present African consumption, therefore even their partial implementation will increase the aluminium surplus of the continent and substitute the export of aluminium (and/or alumina) for that of bauxite.

Table 9.2 World production of aluminium: relative share in world output (%)

		Bauxite	Alumina	Aluminium
Bauxite exporting countries:
	Guinea	14.2	0.02	0
	Jamaica	13	7	0
	Surinam	6.2	4	0
	Australia	28.7	22	0.02
Bauxite importing countries:
	USSR	7.9	10.7	15.7
	USA	2	20	29.7
	Japan	0	5 7	7 3
	West Germany	0	5	5
	Canada	0	3 4	7.1
	Norway	0	0	4 5

Source: Metal Bulletin and United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, 1985.

Production of alumina and aluminium is heavily concentrated in developed countries which are the main consumers. They import alumina to produce aluminium and they import even greater quantities of bauxite to produce alumina. Australia, Surinam and Jamaica, unlike Guinea, however, process a good part of their bauxite output.