Axis sues Guinea for $29B over bauxite permit

United Arab Emirates-based bauxite producer Axis International has filed a $28.9-billion arbitration claim against Guinea at a World Bank tribunal after the government revoked its mining permit in May.

Axis lodged the case with the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, saying Guinea unlawfully terminated its rights as part of a wider crackdown on mining licences under President Mamadi Doumbouya’s military government. Axis said Guinea ignored repeated efforts to settle the dispute and wrongly claimed the mine was idle or underused.

The government’s justification was “not based on reality,” Gunjan Sharma, a lawyer for Axis, said in an emailed statement. Axis has operated a bauxite mine in Boffa, about 150 km northwest of Conakry, since 2020, exporting 18 million tonnes in 2024 with proven reserves exceeding 800 million tonnes. The company also said authorities seized its equipment and froze its bank accounts.

“As we will show the World Bank tribunal, Guinea is liable for the entire amount of damages caused by its knowingly unlawful acts,” Sharma said.

The revocation was one of more than 50 permits cancelled for alleged non-compliance with the mining code, a move aimed at boosting state revenue and expanding local processing. Guinea holds the world’s largest bauxite reserves, a raw material that’s refined into alumina, the main feedstock for making aluminum. It also has a vast iron ore deposit at its Simandou mountains, where the long-delayed namesake project was officially launched in Novemer.

Landslide vote

Doumbouya, who won in a landslide the first presidential vote on Dec. 28 since he seized power in a 2021 coup, has tied mining development to a broader strategy known as Simandou 2040. It requires higher-value processing such as pelletization and eventual local refining.

Before the licence was revoked, Axis said it was on track to produce 48 million tonnes in 2025. Other companies hit by the government’s actions include Nomad Bauxite and Nimba Investment, both of which filed arbitration claims late in 2025.

Axis International founder Pankaj Oswal said that over more than a decade, his company’s project developed into “a fully operational mine contributing materially to Guinea’s economy.” He noted the project has remained moving forward even during the Ebola epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Axis owns 85% of Axis Minerals Resources, which held the local permit, while the Guinean state owns the remaining stake. A local partner, Alliance Guinéenne de Bauxite d’Alumine et d’Aluminium, operates the mine.