Bissau, Nov. 5, 2024 (Lusa) - Guinea-Bissau's minister of natural resources, Malam Sambu, told Lusa on Tuesday that Russia is going to train 70 young Guineans in mining, oil, translation and interpreting, and oil law.
According to the minister, the training will be carried out by Rusal, Russia's largest state-owned aluminium production company and the second largest in the world.
Rusal is the company that currently holds the licence for the prospection and possible exploitation of bauxite in Boé, in eastern Guinea-Bissau, said Malam Sambu.
The Guinean government has just signed another bauxite prospecting and exploration agreement with China, in another part of Boé.
Geological studies suggest that Guinea-Bissau has more than 113 million tonnes of bauxite, the main natural source of aluminium, in the historic town of Boé - where the country's independence was unilaterally proclaimed in 1973.
In 2007, the Bissau-Guinean government granted a licence to Bauxite Angola, a mixed company under Angolan law, to exploit this mineral. The company stopped prospecting work, which began in April 2012, following a coup d'état in Guinea-Bissau.
Since then, Bauxite Angola has tried to return several times, but the project never went ahead until December 2022, when the Guinean cabinet announced that it was terminating the contract under which it had granted the company an exploration licence.
"Rusal will pay for all the training of these young people who are due to travel to Russia before the end of this month," said Malam Sambu.
However, the Russian company has made two demands of the Guinean government: that the trainees receive their diplomas after their studies in Bissau and that they register with the Ministry of Natural Resources before their arrival in the country.
Malam Sambu emphasised that "this is the first time that Guinea-Bissau is going to train staff" in the field of Natural Resources "in large numbers".
"We have good staff in this field, but most are old. The country needs to train new staff," he emphasised.
The minister also pointed out that Rusal is already on the ground carrying out prospecting work to reconfirm the geological studies carried out in the past.
MB/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
