Société Minière de Boké

Stock performance

History

Société Minière de Boké (SMB) was set up in 2014 by a consortium combining Singapore's Winning Shipping, China's Shandong Weiqiao group (parent of aluminum giant China Hongqiao), the Guinean logistics firm UMS, and a Chinese port operator. It began exporting in 2015 and within a few years became the largest bauxite exporter in Guinea, producing about 55 million tonnes in 2024.

Business model

SMB mines bauxite at several plateaus in the Boké region, trucks and barges it to river ports, and loads it onto large ships for export, mainly to alumina refineries in China. Its integrated mine-to-ship logistics chain allowed it to ramp up output far faster than older producers.

Market position

SMB is the largest bauxite producer in Guinea and one of the largest in the world, supplying a large share of China's imported bauxite. The same group of investors has also been developing part of the giant Simandou iron-ore deposit in southeastern Guinea.

Country impact

SMB's rapid growth helped make Guinea the world's largest bauxite exporter and drove strong GDP growth, but it also brought complaints over dust, water pollution, and land loss in mining communities, and pressure from the government to build alumina refineries in Guinea rather than just exporting raw ore.