By revoking the mining permit of Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC) to create a public company, General Mamadi Doumbouya not only defended the national interest, he also carried out a historic act of sovereignty, unprecedented since independence. This decision places Guinea in the select circle of African countries that have regained control of their strategic resources, like Morocco with its Office Chérifien des Phosphates, Botswana with Debswana, or Niger and Mali revising their mining codes.

Military personnel are often described as men of action, quick to react to changing circumstances. But the National Rally for Development Committee (CNRD) has defied this cliché: in the case between the Guinean government and the Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC), a subsidiary of the Emirati group Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), General Mamadi Doumbouya demonstrated uncommon strategic patience. For more than twenty years, GAC exploited Guinean bauxite in Boké without honoring its main commitment: to build an aluminum refinery on national soil, even though it was clearly stated in the agreement signed in 2004.

Despite repeated appeals, official reminders, negotiations and warnings, the company has offered a double refusal: to respect its obligations and to renounce economic blackmail, brandishing the threat of dismissing more than 3,000 workers and initiating an avalanche of legal proceedings if its concession is withdrawn.

On August 4, after exhausting all diplomatic avenues, the Guinean government made its decision. In all sovereignty, General Mamadi Doumbouya signed a decree purely and simply revoking GAC's mining permit. This was the first time Guinea had gained independence in 1958. Never before had a Guinean government dared to end such an unbalanced mining partnership, where the added value was evaporating beyond its borders.

The executive immediately created the Nimba Mining Company, a wholly state-owned public limited company, taking over all of GAC's assets and personnel. Guinean jobs were thus preserved, but above all, a new direction was set: the effective construction of an aluminum refinery, with foreign experts, the transfer of technology and skills to local technicians, and the integration of the mining sector into a broader development plan covering agriculture, health, education, culture, and infrastructure. Under the direct supervision of the Minister and Chief of Staff of the Presidency, Djiba Diakité, architect of the Simandou 2040 program, the Nimba Mining Company is part of the same logic of structural transformation.

This approach places Guinea in the wake of other African countries that have regained control of their resources. Morocco did so in the 1970s with the creation of the Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP), which has become a global leader in the sector. Botswana has built a balanced partnership with De Beers through Debswana, while also creating the Okavango Diamond Company to maximize national revenues. More recently, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso have thoroughly revised their mining codes, increasing state shares and taking back certain strategic concessions. Zambia, with the nationalization of its copper sector in the 1970s, and Angola, via Ferrangol for strategic minerals, have also taken this path.

This gesture by Guinea goes far beyond a simple dispute with a foreign operator. It sends a strong signal, that of a country that rejects the crude and sterile exploitation of its resources in favor of local transformation that generates national wealth. After more than sixty years of independence, Guinea is turning a corner, and doing so in a context where prudence, method, and firmness are combined.

General Mamadi Doumbouya, with the rigor of his cabinet minister, Djiba Diakité, and the overwhelming support of the people, is thus ushering in a new era. An era in which mining is no longer synonymous with loss-making, but with transformation, the transfer of know-how, and shared prosperity. Guinea is now establishing itself as an African example of assertive sovereignty, looking to the future.