Fria in Guinea: A Dismissed Bauxite Town

Abstract

The article recounts the recent history of the bauxite town Fria, about 100 km north of the capital Conakry. From the late 1950s until 2012, Fria had been the only African producer of aluminum oxide, an intermediate product in the production of aluminum out of bauxite. During a strike in April 2012, the workers of Fria were locked out by the owner, Rusal, a Russian aluminum company, and since then the factory has not resumed production. The article discusses possible reasons for this lock-out and reports on the severe consequences for the population of Fria. It concludes that Rusal’s mode of operation is different from that of Western companies, but the long-term outcomes are not. This concerns the ongoing export of unprocessed bauxite (despite numerous promises to build refineries and smelters), the degradation of working and living conditions and the increased misuse of measures of corporate social responsibility.