The Guinean subsidiary of EGA Group, Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC), has renewed their IFM contract with Aden Remote Site, continuing a partnership that began in 2015. The past five years have seen their share of both challenges and growth, as Aden has delivered on its commitment to provide high-quality service at the Tinguilinta Mine, Port of Kamsar and Conakry sites. Through it all, Aden has remained dedicated to prioritizing Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) best practices while meeting GAC’s specific local needs.
One of GAC’s on-site requirements is to prioritize local value creation. Aden shares this commitment, ensuring our presence contributes to the development of local economies wherever we operate around the world. In Guinea, we made this possible by the creation of a local joint venture with IBS Group, one of Aden’s long-time partners in the region. Aden and IBS worked together to prioritize the use of local supplies and labor while implementing the best standards and processes for remote site management to maximize the benefit of local communities.
Meeting operational challenges
Over the past five years, GAC has become a leader in bauxite mining in Guinea. In 2020 alone, production objectives are set an ambitious 12 million tons. Currently, GAC employs a multinational team of close to 400 permanent residents and 600 day-laborers across their sites. That number will only grow, as camps actively upgrade residential and operational capacity.
Aden has played a key role in helping GAC meet these ambitious production and growth targets. Aden’s mission at all remote sites, whether that is a mine or any other compound, is to provide the highest level of comfort for all workers and residents while prioritizing sustainability. Aden delivers on this promise by relying on experience, vision and using a suite of digital management tools to monitor and trace all services.
Responsiveness to the health crisis
This year has presented more than the typical operational challenges in Guinea. When the COVID-19 crisis arose in early 2020, Aden demonstrated the ability to support GAC across all sites through the integration of a COVID-19 prevention system. The primary challenge was balancing infectious disease prevention protocols while maintaining a high level of production.
Aden and GAC responded quickly, rolling out all restructuring in rapid time to get ahead of any potential infections. Through proactivity and a strong partnership, Aden has been able to keep all camp workers and contractors safe from the viral spread, while GAC was able to maintain 100% of their production objectives.
Looking forward
As Africa moves from crisis to a post-pandemic world, and as GAC continues to grow its operations on the continent, Aden will remain dedicated to delivering comfort, safety and sustainability at their sites. Aden will continue to align our operations and practices to meet GAC’s priorities while delivering our promise to provide high levels of service and comfort while keeping sustainable practices. Aden Remote Site looks forward to the next phase of our relationship with GAC and the future of providing excellent service, as we have for the past five years.