Guinea Realizes More Revenues From Mining, Publishes Contracts

In 2010, Guinea held its first democratic elections and incoming president Alpha Condé promised to reform a mining sector that had grown corrupt and opaque after decades of mismanagement. 

In 2011, NRGI began a program of technical assistance and capacity building that contributed to sustainable changes. NRGI assisted Guinea in drafting and implementing a new mining code; supported the establishment of a transparent process for reviewing mining contracts signed under previous administrations and aligning contracts with the new code. NRGI also provided technical assistance to government officials; supported the creation of government websites that publish detailed payment information and mining contracts; and helped develop financial models of integrated mining and infrastructure projects. Meanwhile, training and alliance-building improved civil society actors’ technical understanding of the sector, increased their confidence in engaging government and enabled activists to pass on knowledge to residents of mining-affected communities.

Darryl Keith via Wikimedia Commons, under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Today’s sector is radically different from 2010. Investment has picked up, bauxite production has quadrupled and GDP has almost doubled. A new, transparent cadastre facilitates the allocation of licenses and government monitoring of license obligations. Mining tax collection increased by 46 percent and subnational governments are for the first time receiving a direct share of revenues. The state mining company has aligned its transparency practices to international standards, and the government now routinely publishes cadastre information, mining contracts, production and exports figures, and mining tax collection disaggregated by company.