Guinean bauxite miner, Nimba Mining Company has finalized its mining convention, locking in a legal framework covering its entire operation from mine to port.

The convention, granted by government decree, sets out the rights and obligations of both the Guinean state and the company for the full duration of operations. It fixes the fiscal, customs, environmental and social rules governing NMC’s activities — from bauxite extraction at the Tinguilinta mine to export through the Port of Kamsar.

The agreement gives NMC the legal certainty to commit to long-term investments, including the ramp-up of the Tinguilinta site and studies into local bauxite processing.

The milestone lands as NMC marks its first anniversary. CEO Patrice L’Huillier framed the convention as both a validation and a responsibility. “Formalising the signing of our mining convention is both an honour and a responsibility.

This text gives NMC the clear legal framework an industrial company needs to invest and to last. The past year is a great source of hope: in 12 months, Guinean teams have brought a mine, a railway and a port back into service and lifted our exports beyond four-million tonnes,” L’Huillier said.

He tied the achievement to a bigger ambition. “It is this momentum that we are putting at the service of Simandou 2040, of which NMC intends to be one of the pillars,” L’Huillier added.

NMC plans to scale operations quickly. The company expects to reach 10 million tonnes of output this year, rising to 12 million tonnes annually from 2027.

Beyond mining, NMC is launching feasibility studies for a 1.2-million-tonne-a-year alumina refinery to process bauxite locally rather than export it raw.

“It is this momentum that we are putting at the service of Simandou 2040, of which NMC intends to be one of the pillars,” L’Huillier said.