Ghana Bauxite Company entrusted Ecobank Ghana on Wednesday, October 28, with an exclusive mandate to structure financing in Accra of up to 250 million dollars, intended to expand and modernize its Awaso mine.
The agreement does not mean that the entire amount has already been committed or disbursed. Ecobank Ghana acts as arranger on a best efforts basis and must approach banks and other financial institutions to assemble the financing.
The planned arrangement combines a term loan for capital expenditures and a revolving credit facility for cash flow needs. The funds are intended to finance mining equipment, transportation capacities, and handling facilities around Awaso.
Ghana Bauxite first wants to increase the mine’s capacity in order to supply a future alumina refinery. This project is part of Ghana’s strategy to further process its bauxite locally instead of exporting it solely in raw form.
According to data provided by the company, mine exports increased from 773,213 tonnes in 2022 to approximately 2.07 million tonnes in 2025. The company estimates that a refinery producing 1.5 million tonnes of alumina would require 4.5 million tonnes of bauxite.
The project includes an initial refining phase of 500,000 tons per year before scaling up to 1.5 million tons. Ghana Bauxite estimates that 750,000 tons of aluminum could be produced from this volume of alumina.
The final amount, the duration of the facilities, the identity of the participating lenders, and the disbursement schedule had not been made public as of October 30.
