Mubadala Development Company, an investment and development vehicle established and wholly owned by the Government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and Dubai Aluminium Company Limited (DUBAL), has announced that it has entered into a strategic joint venture to develop and operate the Sangaredi Refinery Project in the Republic of Guinea.

The other parties to the joint venture agreement are Broken Hill Proprietary Company Pty Limited (BHP Billiton), Global Alumina International Ltd (GAI). In terms of the agreement the partners will make a substantial investment in Guinea Alumina Corporation Ltd (GAC), presently a wholly-owned subsidiary of GAI, by way of share subscriptions which will result in Mubadala owning an 8.33%.stake in GAC. DUBAL will own 25%. GAI and BHP will each hold 33.33%.

Guinea is known to have around a third of the world’s bauxite reserves. As such, the Sangaredi Refinery Project will give the partners long-life access to low cost alumina. The Sangaredi Refinery Project, with an estimated cost of around US$ 3 billion which will be finance through a 70 – 30 debt equity. The refinery will have the capacity to produce 3 million tonnes of alumina a year. The refinery site is located 100 km inland from Kamsar and has access to an existing rail infrastructure linking it to the Port of Kamsar, where dedicated facilities are already under construction.

The development will also include a 9 million mt/year bauxite mine and associated infrastructure. A 690 km2 mining concession, with estimated reserves of around 1 billion tonnes of bauxite, has been secured.

Mubadala Development Company is an investment and development vehicle established and wholly owned by the Government of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Its mission is to invest in commercially-viable, strategic, industrial and commercial partnerships. The company manages a diversified portfolio of local, regional, and international investments. International investments include the Dutch fleet management giant LeasePlan Corporation (25% stake), and a stake in nine oil exploration blocks in Libya. Stakes are also held in the Swiss aircraft and engine services provider SR Technics (40%), the Italian luxury car manufacturer Ferrari (5%), and Piaggio Aero Industries (35%). In the United Arab Emirates and wider Gulf region, Mubadala Development has invested in, and developed, a number of leading projects including the first GCC cross-border natural gas project, Dolphin Energy (51% majority stake), Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), Tabreed, Abu Dhabi Ship Building, Imperial College London Diabetes Centre in Abu Dhabi, Injazat Data Systems and the Mukhaizna Oil Field developments in Oman. Mubadala Development signed a joint development agreement with Dubai Aluminium Company (DUBAL) to develop, construct, own and operate a USD 8-billion world class green-field aluminium smelter complex with 1.4-million tons capacity a year at the Khalifa Port and Industrial Zone in Abu Dhabi.

Mubadala and DUBAL are also developing a US $5 billion smelter with a 700,000 tones capacity in Algeria. Mubadala Development is also leading the development of the UAE University’s new campus in Al Ain City through a public-private partnership initiative.

About DUBAL

DUBAL is the seventh largest producer of primary aluminium in the world, and currently ranks as the largest single-site aluminium smelter complex in the Western world. Built on a 480-hectare site, DUBAL’s major facilities comprise a 861,000 tonne-per-annum primary aluminium smelter, a 1,750 megawatt power station, a large carbon plant, three casthouses, a 30-million-gallon-per-day water desalination plant, laboratories, port and storage facilities. The company’s annual production of high quality finished aluminium products is expected to exceed one million metric tonnes by the end of 2008. Three main forms are produced: foundry alloy for automotive applications, extrusion billet for construction purposes and high purity aluminium for the electronics industry. DUBAL serves more than 280 customers in 44 countries predominantly in the Far East, Europe, the ASEAN region, the Middle East and Mediterranean region, and North America. The company holds ISO 9001, QS 9000 ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification; and has twice won the Dubai Quality Award in the Production and Manufacturing sector (1996 and 2000).

About BHP

Billiton BHP Billiton is the world’s sixth largest producer of primary aluminium, and one of the world’s largest non-integrated producers of primary aluminum with a total operating capacity in excess of one million tonnes of aluminium, approximately 14 million tonnes of bauxite and four million tonnes of alumina per annum. About Global Alumina Global Alumina is headquartered in Saint John, New Brunswick with operations in Boké, Guinea and has administrative offices in New York, London, Montreal and Conakry, Guinea. Global Alumina is positioned to be one of the only companies focused solely on alumina production and sales and has been instrumental in the development of the Sangaredi Alumina Project, one of the most advanced new projects in Guinea with the refinery already in feasibility stage and critical path infrastructure and site work already underway.