On August 3, Guinea-focused and 100% Guinean-owned mining enterprise Nimba Mining Company (NMC) signed its mining convention at the Presidency of the Republic, which was subsequently approved by decree.

One year to the day after its creation, the company reports that it now has a clear and stable legal framework to conduct its entire chain of activities, from the extraction of bauxite at Tinguilinta to its export through the Port of Kamsar.

“The mining agreement provides NMC with the clear legal framework that an industrial company needs to invest and build for the long term,” says NMC MD Patrice L’Huillier.

On August 4, 2025, by Presidential decree, Guinea created its first 100% nationally owned mining company tasked with operating the entire mining value chain, from extraction to export.

The granting of the mining agreement by decree establishes the respective rights and obligations of the Guinean State and NMC for the entire duration of the operation. It secures the regulatory framework applicable to NMC’s operations in fiscal, customs, environmental and social matters, and provides the company with the visibility required to undertake long-term investments, starting with the ramp-up of the Tinguilinta site and studies related to the local processing of bauxite.

NMC says the company embodies the vision of Guinea President Mamadi Doumbouya to make the mining sector a key pillar of the country’s economic development and a sustainable driver of industrial sovereignty.

In 12 months, NMC says its teams, composed of 98% Guineans, have demonstrated the capacity of national human capital to take on a major industrial challenge.

The successive restart of the Port of Kamsar, the 92-km railway corridor and the Tinguilinta mine enabled the departure of the first 200000 t vessel on November 5, 2025, followed by the arrival of the first bauxite train at the Port of Kamsar on December 13, 2025.

More than one-million tonnes of bauxite were shipped by the end of 2025, and more than four-million tonnes have already been exported in 2026, following the resumption of operations, with no occupational accident recorded since the company’s creation, NMC reports.

L’Huillier adds that in 12 months, Guinean teams have restarted a mine, a railway and a port, and brought NMC’s exports beyond four-million tonnes.

“This is the momentum that we are putting at the service of Simandou 2040, of which NMC intends to be one of the pillars,” he says.

The year ahead will be one of ramp-up, with ten-million tonnes targeted this year, followed by 12-million tonnes a year from 2027, corresponding to the site’s nominal capacity.

At the same time, NMC is launching feasibility studies for an alumina refinery with a capacity of 1.2-million tonnes a year – the first step toward the local processing of Guinean bauxite.