Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Mining · Guinea · 1974–2025

Boké bauxite mining and the CBG expansion

Nature's voice · report
Villagers in the Boké region told Human Rights Watch in 2018 that sediment had blocked my streams and that farmland around their villages had been lost.
Did nature suffer? Yes. Harm is on record. Disputed
Recorded
  • Since 2005 I have lost about 40% of the ancestral land around Hamdallaye, about 10 square kilometres. Human Rights Watch
  • Of the land mined between 1974 and 2019, about 10% has been restored. Inclusive Development International
  • Near the Ashapura mine in Telimele, rice production fell by 90% between 2018 and 2022, and in Koussadji my river ran brown. Reuters
What the record lacks: 3 none on record · 1 insufficient · 4 disputed · 1 unclear See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
Are the Boké bauxite mines damaging farmland and water for nearby villages?
  • Communities and civil society Human Rights Watch: Villagers in 30 villages described lost farmland, streams blocked by sediment and water delivered by company tankers. Human Rights Watch
  • Government and regulators Guinea Environment Ministry (secretary general): Closing companies that break the rules is difficult because the country needs jobs and schools. Human Rights Watch
  • Company or project CBG, Alcoa, Rio Tinto, SMB: No response on record.

Bauxite mines in Guinea's Boké region took farmland and affected water for nearby villages, according to Human Rights Watch, Inclusive Development International and Reuters. A 2016 expansion loan to Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée was financed in part by IFC and DFC, and 13 villages complained to the IFC's accountability office in 2019.

USD 823 millionLoan to Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG), 2016, about half from IFC and DFC
Reported figure; a German government guarantee also backed the loan.

Status As of December 2025: CAO complaint by 13 villages still in mediation (reported 24 November 2025); CBG exploring in 85 villages north of the Cogon River; no ruling or sanction on record.

What?
Bauxite mining in Boké by CBG and SMB took farmland and affected water for nearby villages, according to Human Rights Watch, Inclusive Development International and Reuters; CBG's expansion was financed by a USD 823 million loan in 2016. Human Rights Watch
Where?
Boké region, Sangarédi and Telimele, Guinea. Human Rights Watch
When?
Mining by CBG since 1974; Hamdallaye land loss since 2005; loan 2016; CAO complaint filed 2019; relocation March 2020; complaint still in mediation in November 2025. Inclusive Development International
Who?
Gained
Lost
  • Hamdallaye village — Lost more than 1,000 hectares of land since 2005 and was relocated in March 2020 to a pre-mined hill. Inclusive Development International
  • Emirates Global Aluminium — GAC concession revoked in August 2025 and passed to a state company without compensation. Mining Weekly
Harmed
  • Villagers in 30 Boké villages interviewed by Human Rights Watch — Reported lost farmland, streams blocked by sediment and company-supplied water that was sometimes dirty. Human Rights Watch
  • Farmers in Telimele and Koussadji — Rice production down 90%, 2018–2022; brown river water. Reuters
Why?
The Environment Ministry's secretary general said closing rule-breaking companies is difficult because the country needs jobs and schools. Human Rights Watch
How?
Expansion financed by a USD 823 million loan, about half from IFC and DFC, with a German guarantee; villagers filed a complaint with the IFC's accountability office in 2019. Inclusive Development International
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG) is Guinea's oldest bauxite company. Alcoa, Rio Tinto and Dadco together hold 51% of it; the Guinean state holds the rest. Bauxite is the ore from which aluminium is made. Guinea produced about 3.7 million tonnes of bauxite a week, about 146 million tonnes a year, in 2024, according to Reuters. In Boké, the other large producer is Société Minière de Boké (SMB), founded by the Singapore-based Winning International Group and its partner Shandong Weiqiao/China Hongqiao. In 2017 SMB exported 31 million tonnes and CBG 14.4 million tonnes, according to Human Rights Watch; the volume given for SMB in 2023 was about 48 million tonnes.

In 2018 Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 300 people in 30 villages in the Boké region. Villagers described losing farmland, streams blocked by sediment, and water delivered by company tankers that was dirty on some days. The report said that Hamdallaye village had lost about 40% of its ancestral land, about 10 square kilometres, to mines between 2005 and 2018. SMB had 7,600 employees, 274 of them women. The Environment Ministry's secretary general told the organisation that closing companies that break the rules is difficult because the country needs jobs and schools.

In 2016 CBG obtained a loan of USD 823 million for its expansion. About half came from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's private-sector arm, and the US Development Finance Corporation (DFC); the German government guaranteed the loan, according to Inclusive Development International (IDI) in 2025. An earlier IDI account (2020) gives the IFC's loan to CBG as USD 200 million and a US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) loan as USD 150 million. IDI reported in 2025 that about 10% of the land mined between 1974 and 2019 had been restored.

Hamdallaye village was relocated in March 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, to an area that had already been mined and had not been well restored. IDI described the new site as a pre-mined hill without topsoil. The relocation took place before mediation had begun on a complaint to the IFC's accountability office, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO). The complaint, filed in 2019 by 13 villages (540 complainants), was still in mediation when IDI reported in November 2025. In 2025 CBG was exploring north of the Cogon River across 85 villages, in a concession of about 3,000 square kilometres.

In December 2025 Reuters reported brown river water in the village of Koussadji and a 90% fall in rice production in the Telimele area between 2018 and 2022, near the Ashapura mine. In August 2025 the concession of Emirates Global Aluminium's Guinea Alumina Corporation (GAC), which accounts for 2–3% of world supply, was revoked and transferred to a state company without compensation.

  1. 1974Start of the period (1974–2019) over which about 10% of mined land was later reported restored
  2. 2005Hamdallaye begins losing ancestral land to mining; by 2018 Human Rights Watch put the loss at about 40%, about 10 square kilometres
  3. 2016CBG obtains a USD 823 million loan, about half from IFC and DFC, with a German guarantee
  4. 2017Exports: SMB 31 million tonnes, CBG 14.4 million tonnes (Human Rights Watch)
  5. 2018Human Rights Watch report on bauxite mining in Boké (4 October)
  6. 201913 villages file a complaint with the IFC's Compliance Advisor Ombudsman
  7. 2020Hamdallaye relocated in March, during the COVID-19 lockdown, before CAO mediation began
  8. 2025GAC concession transferred to a state company (August); IDI reports CAO mediation still under way (24 November); CBG exploring 85 villages north of the Cogon River; Reuters reports on water and crops (December)

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Are the Boké bauxite mines damaging farmland and water for nearby villages?
Communities and civil society
Human Rights Watch

Villagers in 30 villages described lost farmland, streams blocked by sediment and water delivered by company tankers.

Human Rights Watch
Government and regulators
Guinea Environment Ministry (secretary general)

Closing companies that break the rules is difficult because the country needs jobs and schools.

Human Rights Watch
Company or project
CBG, Alcoa, Rio Tinto, SMB

No response on record.

Was Hamdallaye relocated to a suitable site, and at a suitable time?
Communities and civil society
Inclusive Development International

The village was moved in March 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown and before CAO mediation had begun, to a pre-mined hill without topsoil.

Inclusive Development International
How was the 2016 CBG expansion financed?
Communities and civil society
Inclusive Development International (2025)

USD 823 million loan, about half from IFC and DFC, with a German government guarantee.

Inclusive Development International
Communities and civil society
Inclusive Development International (2020)

IFC loan to CBG of USD 200 million and a US Overseas Private Investment Corporation loan of USD 150 million.

Inclusive Development International

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • Closing companies that break the rules is difficult because the country needs jobs and schools.
    Secretary general of Guinea's Environment Ministry, as reported by Human Rights Watch (2018) · Human Rights Watch

Recorded

  • Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 300 people in 30 villages; villagers reported lost farmland, streams blocked by sediment and water brought by company tankers that was dirty on some days; SMB had 7,600 employees, 274 of them women.
    Human Rights Watch
  • Hamdallaye lost about 40% of its ancestral land, about 10 square kilometres, between 2005 and 2018 (Human Rights Watch); the village lost more than 1,000 hectares since 2005 (Inclusive Development International).
    Human Rights Watch
  • About 10% of the land mined between 1974 and 2019 had been restored.
    Inclusive Development International
  • Hamdallaye was moved in March 2020 to a pre-mined hill without topsoil, before CAO mediation had begun.
    Inclusive Development International
  • 13 villages (540 complainants) filed a CAO complaint in 2019; it was still in mediation in November 2025.
    Inclusive Development International
  • Telimele rice production fell by 90% between 2018 and 2022, near the Ashapura mine; a farmer in Koussadji cooked with brown river water.
    Reuters
  • Guinea's government revoked Emirates Global Aluminium's GAC concession in August 2025 and passed it to a state company without compensation; GAC accounts for 2–3% of world supply.
    Mining Weekly
  • Two bauxite mines funded a 6,426 square-kilometre park about 300 kilometres from the mines as a chimpanzee offset (2017–2019); a resident of Kintao Kawil said the stream was no longer drinkable. The mines are not named.

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Currency: USD · Window: . All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • Guinea Environment Ministry (2018): Its secretary general said that closing companies that break the rules is difficult because the country needs jobs and schools (as reported by Human Rights Watch). · Human Rights Watch

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. 2019–Ongoing
    Complaint to the IFC's Compliance Advisor Ombudsman about the CBG expansion and Hamdallaye
    Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (IFC accountability mechanism; non-judicial) · Administrative · 13 villages (540 complainants) → CBG, financed in part by the IFC (complaint to the IFC's accountability office)

    The complaint was in mediation when Inclusive Development International reported in November 2025; no current status was found. Hamdallaye was relocated in March 2020 (21 March in the CAO case summary), before mediation had begun. Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (IFC)

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Land restored
About 10%
Share of land mined 1974–2019 reported restored (Inclusive Development International, 2025)
Hamdallaye land lost since 2005
More than 1,000 ha
About 40% of the village's ancestral land, about 10 square kilometres (Human Rights Watch, 2018)
Relocation site
Pre-mined hill
Previously mined, not well restored, no topsoil (Inclusive Development International, 2020)
Telimele rice production
−90%
2018–2022, near the Ashapura mine (Reuters, December 2025)

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Displacement reported

Nature

  • Disputed Are the Boké bauxite mines damaging farmland and water for nearby villages?

Accounts

  • Disputed Was Hamdallaye relocated to a suitable site, and at a suitable time?
  • Disputed How was the 2016 CBG expansion financed?
  • None on record CBG, Alcoa, Rio Tinto, SMB: No response on record.

Record

  • None on record How the 2019 complaint to the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman by 13 villages was resolved: it was still in mediation in November 2025; no current status was found.
  • Unclear Whether any court case or regulatory sanction has been brought over the Boké mining: none is reported in the sources reviewed.
  • Disputed Conflicting accounts of the 2016 CBG financing: IDI (2025) gives a USD 823 million loan, about half from IFC and DFC; IDI (2020) gives the IFC loan as USD 200 million and an OPIC loan as USD 150 million. The lenders and shares are not reconciled in the sources reviewed.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: a ProPublica and IUCN/Re:wild account that the Guinea biodiversity offset would contribute to the deaths of 180 to 400 chimpanzees and could not achieve a net gain.
  • None on record Responses of CBG, Alcoa, Rio Tinto, IFC and DFC to the findings of Human Rights Watch and Inclusive Development International are not on record.

Did the harm stop?

No end to the mining or the exploration is recorded; CBG was exploring north of the Cogon River in 2025 and the CAO complaint was still in mediation.

Who paid?

Residents of Hamdallaye and other Boké villages, who reported lost land and degraded water; the 2016 expansion loan was financed in part by IFC and DFC and guaranteed by the German government.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project✓ Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society— Researchers

Government and regulators

  1. CAO case: Guinea CBG-01 Sangaredi (summary)
    Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (IFC) ·

Press and investigations

Communities and civil society

  1. Guinea: Bauxite Mining Boom Threatens Rights
    Human Rights Watch · 2018-10-04
  3. Guinea bauxite mining report
    Inclusive Development International · 2025-11-24

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Institutions

DFC
The US International Development Finance Corporation, a government agency that lends to and insures private projects abroad.
IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and its global list assessing species' risk of extinction.

Bonds and banking

Guarantee
A commitment by a third party, often a development bank, to pay if the borrower does not.

Science and environment

Hectare (ha)
A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.

Carbon and conservation finance

Offset
Using carbon credits to balance emissions released elsewhere, so that a buyer can claim lower or zero net emissions.
Voluntary carbon market
Trade in carbon credits bought by choice, mostly by companies, outside legally binding emission schemes.

Insurance

Political-risk insurance
Insurance that protects lenders and investors against losses caused by government actions, such as a state failing to pay.
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