PROJECT DURATION
June 2024-May 2025
GEOGRAPHIC COVERAGE
Guinea (Conakry)
SECTOR
Critical raw materials – Bauxite/alumina industry
About
Guinea possesses significant bauxite reserves, representing one-third of the world’s total. Bauxite is refined into alumina, which is then smelted into primary aluminum. Bauxite and alumina are considered critical raw materials by the European Union and the United States.
The mining sector plays a key role in Guinea’s economy, mainly through the export of raw materials. Local content policies are designed to promote local employment in bauxite refining. However, the country faces a shortage of skilled labor, particularly in alumina-related professions.
On March 21, 2024, General Mamadi Doumbouya, President of the Republic of Guinea, announced through a presidential decree that the Alteo Alumina group’s alumina refinery project, Alteo Refinery Guinea (ARG), was recognized as being of National Interest.
On June 24, 2024, the Government of Guinea, the French group ALTEO Alumina and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) signed a public-private development partnership (PPDP) aimed at accelerating skills development to strengthen the bauxite and alumina industry in Guinea. This partnership is a core driver of Alteo’s alumina refinery (ARG) project to build an alumina refinery in the Boke region. The aim is to foster, through the transfer of skills, the emergence of a highly qualified workforce in Guinea, thereby supporting the national bauxite value addition strategy and creating a local bauxite refining industry. This partnership underlines Alteo’s commitment to sustainable development and economic growth in Guinea, ensuring that the local community benefits directly from the refinery project, through the support of local and national authorities towards sustainable development and UNIDO’s expertise in this field.
This partnership led to the creation of the Centre d’Excellence et de Perfectionnement en Industrie et Alumine de Guinée (CEPIAG), an advanced industry-led professional training centre dedicated to developing a highly skilled national workforce for priority industrial value chains, including alumina. CEPIAG was legally established as a public Centre of Excellence by ministerial decree in August 2025.
Project
This PPDP supports Guinea’s national strategy to strengthen the bauxite value chain by fostering skills transfer and developing a qualified national workforce capable of supporting the country’s industrialization objectives.
CEPIAG provides competency-based, industry-validated training in highly transferable industrial skills, including industrial mechanics, electromechanics, welding, and boiler-making and piping. This initiative contributes to sustainable development, economic growth, and local content development, ensuring that Guinea’s population benefits directly from industrial investments.
The PPDP aims to improve young Guineans’ access to quality technical and industrial training and provide opportunities for skilled employment in Guinea’s emerging alumina and industrial sectors. It also strengthens Guinea’s national technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system and supports the country’s transition toward higher value-added industrial activities.
Expected results
The partnership is implemented through a phased approach, beginning with a fully financed design and institutional set-up phase, followed by pilot implementation and operational readiness, and consolidation and scaling. With a total investment of €18.8 million, CEPIAG will serve as a strategic national institution to convert Guinea’s mineral wealth into human capital and industrial capacity.
By 2029, the project is expected to deliver:
- A fully operational Centre of Excellence (CEPIAG) equipped with modern training facilities and integrated into Guinea’s national training system.
- Training and certification of approximately 288 technicians and operators across priority industrial trades.
- Training of approximately 300 engineers specialized in the Bayer process and alumina-related industrial operations.
- Development of structured employment pathways, including job placement support and recruitment opportunities with industrial partners.
- Strengthened institutional capacity, including trained management, trainers, and administrative staff aligned with international standards.
- A sustainable and scalable institutional model capable of supporting Guinea’s industrialization and serving as a regional hub for industrial skills development.
PROGRAMME PARTNERS
- Alteo Group
- Ministry of National Education, Technical and Vocational Training (MOTETV)
- Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research, and Innovation (MESRSI)
- Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research, and Innovation
- Ministry of Mines and Geology
- Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
- Ecole Régionale des Arts et Métiers (ERAM) Boké
- Institut Supérieur des Mines et Géologie de Boké (ISMGB)