**2.2 Scope and methods**

and disruption of electrical and transportation infrastructure hobble extraction and

Although regulations requiring environmental impact reports are in place, Guinea's Ministry of Environment is underfunded and underequipped to monitor and enforce industry commitments [22]. A recent Human Rights Watch report [22] illustrates impacts of poorly enforced regulation on farmers' livelihoods, civil society, and citizen confidence. Reports of waterway degradation from dust released during open-pit mining suggest that the current boom is adversely impacting fisheries, mostly practiced at artisanal scale, which is the country's other primary employment sector [23]. Because Guinea encompasses the source and/or course of nearly all major West African rivers, any water quality or flow degradation will have considerable regional ramifications. Further, these impacts will have a compounding negative effect on region-wide ecosystems as underscored by independent climate change models predicting increased desertification in West Africa [14], especially in the transition zone between the Sahara Desert and the southern savanna (i.e., Sahel).

After clarifying Guinea's willingness to meet its responsibilities under the UNFCCC's Paris Accord, UNDP-Guinea turned its attention to the bauxitealuminum industry because it has overwhelming bearing on Guinea's sustainable development and because it is among the few industries with the capacities to cofinance GCF projects. Currently mining companies are required to pay a small proportion of their profits as a "royalty" intended for use in federal remediation projects. Although mining companies may see the benefits of addressing the cumulative impacts of their activities, this mining royalty modality, the primary modality for participation, is not sufficiently robust. Existing mechanisms designed to ensure effective application of legal and regulatory instruments for mining development are very weak and constitute a hindrance for crowding in private sector investment. However, one might find opportunity rather than conflict where mining investment and civil society participation intersect. This study landed on the concept of "shared use" to describe these synergies (described below). Accordingly, and as a direct result of the collaborative activities described, UNDP-Guinea is developing a work scope for integrated management of the coastal region that has been impacted by mining activities and erosion, with co-financing of USD 11 M from the GCF and the Chamber of Mines. This demonstrates how the GCF created opportunity to

The overarching project objective was to engage Guinea's private-sector mining companies in productive dialog regarding sustainable mining practices, both current and future. Specific goals included the following: (a) identify public-sector stakeholders that could champion sustainability-based initiatives and private-sector stakeholders with expertise in sustainable mining practices; (b) determine the industry's current direct GHG emissions and potential impacts from near-term industry growth; (c) in light of enormous pressure to expand, identify perceived and actual barriers to sector growth and perceived barriers to more sustainable practices; (d) describe proven best practices for sustainability in mining that are applicable and appropriate in Guinea; (e) assist in positioning the mining sector to help meet Guinea's INDCs

threaten its continued build-out.

*Regional Development in Africa*

**1.4 Current funding mechanisms**

couple Guinea's rapid industrialization to its INDCs.

**2. Project design**

**2.1 Objectives**

**50**

In spring 2018, Dr. Lynnette Widder, a Columbia University professor of sustainable development and urbanism, assembled a team that included technical advisor Thomas D. Pacioni whose decades-long experience in extractives and advanced degrees in geology and sustainability management equipped him to guide research and analysis and four graduate students recruited based on academic performance from Columbia's Master's Degree programs in Sustainability Management and in Public Administration and Development [24]. UNDP-Guinea committed to monitor progress and facilitate communication with Guinean organizations, and their operational support and strategic input proved invaluable. The work scope was modeled on the GCF's 2015 Readiness Proposal for Guinea [25] and was completed in two distinct phases. Columbia's research team initially completed:


Subsequent to Phase 1, and with facilitation support from UNDP-Guinea's Ousmane Bocoum, Widder and Pacioni expanded work on qualitative and quantitative drivers that included (a) field-based research in Guinea to isolate data gaps and to verify and/or update Phase 1 data; (b) interviewing executives from Guinea's Chamber of Mines and UNDP-Guinea's local ESG programs, in part to gain insight into the relationships among mining's actual (i.e., on-the-ground) environmental and social drivers; (c) beginning to explore methodologies for developing shared infrastructure in transportation and energy that can benefit communities and private-sector stakeholders durably; (d) developing an advocacy strategy to prove how sustainabilitybased best practices will reduce intense social pressures by expressing a longer-term growth approach that includes generational community needs, not only annual revenues; (e) leveraging a recently created consortium of bauxite mining companies in the Boké Region dedicated to cross-border biodiversity to disseminate and access critical data; and (f) leading a workshop to share sustainable findings and support collaboration and/or friendly competition among bauxite mining companies in Guinea.

**4.1 Bauxite-aluminum production**

*Bauxite-aluminum process steps.*

**Figure 2.**

as practical and then disposed.

**4.2 Resource use and impacts**

vided below.

**53**

important waterways.

beneficiated bauxite is shipped abroad for refining.

*Sustainably Growing Guinea's Bauxite-Aluminum Industry*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86471*

**Bauxite mining**—In Guinea, bauxite is mined from open pits, crushed, and washed on site with water to reduce dust and remove some impurities. The material is then screened and dried, producing beneficiated bauxite and wastewater, and then transported to an alumina refinery. At most bauxite mines around the world, wastewater is retained in settling ponds for reuse [28]. This is likely true in Guinea; however, specific company practices are not publicly available. Most of Guinea's

**Alumina refining**—Beneficiated bauxite is then refined into alumina (i.e., aluminum oxide, Al2O3) using the Bayer process, wherein hot caustic soda is added to dissolve the aluminum compounds. Insoluble residue (i.e., red mud) is then filtered out, and alumina is precipitated. The red mud is washed to recover as much caustic

**Aluminum smelting**—Smelting (anode paste production, electrolysis, and ingot

Potential environmental impacts of bauxite-aluminum production include top-

**Bauxite mining**—Mechanical mining causes dusty conditions, and airborne particulates are both a direct respiratory risk and the primary source of reddish deposits in the areas around. Energy inputs at this phase are mostly diesel used in bulldozers, excavators, and haul trucks. While Guinea's mining wastewater may be recovered as a general practice, there are reports of surface water impacts [22]. This means wastewater management may not be adequate to protect Guinea's all-

**Alumina refining**—Refining requires substantially more water and electricity than mining. Disposed red mud is high in pH and salinity. In addition, metals and natural background radioactivity from its parent bauxite are often concentrated in red mud. Although there are potential uses for red mud, the international rate of reuse is only 2–3% [32]. Other by-products of alumina refining include hydrocarbons, suspended solids in water, and air emissions of nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and mercury [28, 30]. Thus, risks to human health and surrounding eco-

**Aluminum smelting**—Smelting requires yet another order of magnitude increase in energy input. Water requirements are also significantly greater than

systems from alumina refining [33] dramatically eclipses.

soil destruction, dust generation, overuse of freshwater supplies, wastewater releases, and GHG emissions. Resource inputs and non-GHG waste based on typical production data are summarized in **Table 1**, and qualitative summaries are pro-

hexafluoride (cryolite) at 1,000°C and then placed in a cell with carbon (typically graphite) cathodes and anodes. Electrolysis oxidizes the anode's carbon to carbon dioxide (CO2), and aluminum ions are reduced to aluminum metal at the cathode.

casting) is the process by which alumina is dissolved in sodium aluminum

#### **2.3 Limitations**

The study was not comprehensive in scope but instead was limited to readily available data. Although financing mechanisms were discussed, neither a detailed financial analysis nor a review of potential capitalization strategies was completed. Rather, the results of a non-funded academic exercise were expanded in the hope that tangible progress in private-sector engagement could further the UNDP/GCF's Readiness Programme.
