ARTICLE: A new VALCO beckons: Government seeks strategic investor to galvanise Integrated Aluminium Industry

The Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) was established as a collaborative venture between the Government of Ghana and Kaiser and Reynolds of the United States of America.

VALCO started operations in 1967, with ownership then vested in Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical Corporation (Kaiser) and Reynolds Metals Corporation (Reynolds).

Kaiser owned 90% of the shareholding and the remaining 10% was held by Reynolds, but Reynolds sold its shares to Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) before the company launched operations in 1967.

Ghana’s first president, Kwame Nkrumah, identified the Integrated Aluminium Industry (IAI) as the starting point to Ghana’s industrialisation agenda.

With Ghana already having an operational bauxite mine in Awaso, Nkrumah saw the proposal by Kaiser Aluminum to establish a refinery and the VALCO smelter as timely and a major step towards the realisation of an integrated aluminium industry.

The establishment of the Volta Aluminium Company was one of the main requirements for the realisation of the Volta River Project which established the Akosombo Hydroelectric Dam.

Lacking capital

VALCO was built with an installed capacity of 200,000 metric tonnes of refined aluminium per year. The aluminium smelter was run by private partners and, for more than 60 years, it imported alumina from overseas to feed the plant.

VALCO has gone through turbulent phases, including a series of shutdowns largely due to a lack of investment, repairs and maintenance. In 2008, the Government of Ghana, under the former president John Agyekum Kufuor, acquired Kaiser’s shares in VALCO, making it a wholly Ghanaian-owned company.

The plant has been operating with the same dated technology and obsolete equipment inherited from the previous owners (Kaiser Aluminum and Alcoa) and has one of the highest production costs per tonne of aluminium globally.

The lack of capital injection and failure to modernise the plant has, over the years, led to VALCO operating under capacity and recording losses.

VALCO’s place in the Integrated Aluminium Industry project

President Akufo-Addo, with his vision to industrialise and transform Ghana’s economy, birthed the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) in 2018 with a mandate to develop and promote Ghana’s Integrated Aluminium Industry (IAI).

GIADEC is mandated by its enabling act of 2018 (Act 976) to develop Ghana’s Integrated Aluminium Industry, spanning bauxite mining, alumina refining, aluminium smelting and downstream aluminium products manufacturing. In this pursuit, the government’s 100% ownership of VALCO has been transferred to GIADEC.

Also, under the GIADEC masterplan, VALCO has been made the anchor of the IAI project, linking the upstream and downstream sectors of the aluminium industry.

VALCO, being the only existing smelter in Ghana, is required to expand its production from the current 40,000tpa to 300,000tpa of aluminium, implying that the company’s production capacity must be increased by 650%.

To achieve this target, VALCO requires significant transformation to retrofit its old and obsolete potlines as well as other production facilities, plant and equipment to more modern and efficient technology.

The fully retrofitted VALCO smelter will increase its installed capacity to a fully operational 300,000 tpa.

VALCO’s retrofitting project

The VALCO retrofitting project involves the replacement of the five obsolete P69 potlines and associated smelter plant and equipment to modern and more efficient smelting technology.

GIADEC and VALCO have assessed the financial needs for the retrofitting project and have estimated it at US$600 million.

The retrofitting will be done in two phases to enable production to continue without supply interruptions to the burgeoning local downstream companies.

Cabinet approval

In June 2022, cabinet granted approval for the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) and the Volta Aluminium Company Ltd (VALCO) to identify and engage a strategic partner with the financial and relevant capacity to provide the investment and technical wherewithal needed, plus strategic international linkages.

Future state of VALCO

The implementation of Project 4 – the modernisation and expansion of the VALCO smelter to improve efficiency and increase capacity – is to ensure that VALCO is positioned to grow sustainably and be profitable.

This will help it contribute towards establishing and realising the linkages of the upstream and downstream components of the masterplan for Ghana’s IAI.

The modernisation and retrofitting of the VALCO smelter will increase the plant’s current production of 50,000 tonnes to a new installed capacity of 300,000 tonnes that will be a major boost to the realisation of the plan.

Benefits of a retrofitted and modernised VALCO

The retrofitting is designed to transform VALCO from a loss-making entity into a best-in-class profit-making and shareholder value-maximising entity, promoting the government’s industrialisation agenda and contributing substantially to the socio-economic development and growth of the Ghanaian economy.

VALCO’s smelting operations will allow significant value addition to Ghana’s bauxite resources. It is estimated that on an annual basis, 1.5mt of bauxite, valued at approximately US$75 million, can generate US$180 million after refining and US$600 million after smelting.

Smelting is the key linkage between the upstream and downstream sectors of the aluminium industry, through which a tonne of aluminium can generate US$6,000 – three times the value after smelting (USD2,000 per tonne).

VALCO, operating at 40% capacity, currently employs about 750 workers.

After retrofitting and modernising the plant to increase production from the current 50,000 to 300,000 tonnes of aluminium per annum, the smelter will create high-paying direct plus indirect jobs in the thousands for Ghanaians.

With the projected increase in the production of aluminium of about 300,000 metric tonnes per annum, coupled with a favourable, though volatile, aluminium market, Ghana is expected to rake in additional revenue from the successful execution of Project 4 – the modernisation and expansion of the VALCO smelter, while improving the country’s GDP substantially.

Domestic capacity

Ghana’s downstream aluminium industry is anchored by the VALCO smelter, which produces primary aluminium. Twenty per cent of what VALCO produces is used by local entities producing semi-processed and end-user materials.

The products produced locally include electrical cables and conductors, holloware (including pots and pans) and roofing sheets. Downstream industries are significantly driving the demand for aluminium, thereby providing an impetus to the demand growth for the metal.

Ghana’s downstream sector remains underdeveloped, using less than 7,000 tonnes of the roughly 50,000 tonnes of aluminium VALCO currently produces.

With a forecast of about 300,000 metric tonnes of aluminium after VALCO has been retrofitted, GIADEC is working to revive and expand the downstream sector to take advantage of the excess aluminium that will be produced.

Boosting the downstream sector

GIADEC’s vision for the downstream sector is to drive the utilisation of locally produced aluminium products in Ghana and beyond. Each year, Ghana imports up to 45,000 tonnes of aluminium products and GIADEC’s aim is to have many of these products produced locally instead.

There are many opportunities to increase the local production of aluminium products in the construction, automotive and packaging sectors, among others.

Through partnerships and in concert with other agencies, GIADEC will encourage the local production of aluminium products, thereby substituting current imports and the development of markets across the continent through enabling institutions such as the AfCFTA, as well as take advantage of other global opportunities.

Thus, Project 4 – the retrofitting and modernization of VALCO – is key to achieving the vision for the downstream sector. With the rise in the price of aluminium on the world market in recent months – rising to more than $4,000.00 per tonne – the timing for executing Project 4 is right.

Aluminium prices are hovering around $3,000 per tonne and forecast to increase in the coming months.

Retrofitting and modernising VALCO to increase its production from 40,000 to about 300,000 metric tonnes of aluminium per year will position the plant to take full advantage of the surge in aluminium prices.

In addition, there has been significantly rising demand for aluminium (by about 54%) in the past decade because of its lightweight, high-strength and recycling properties.

This uptrend in production is likely to continue in the years to come, along with the healthy pace of increase in the usage of aluminium.

A major innovation in the pipeline that could affect aluminium demand is the introduction of “green metals” and electric vehicles (EVs).

The advocacy of the use of green energy for a zero-carbon environment in the production of aluminium by global standards and some leading producing companies, as well as top companies in the downstream sector, is becoming a driving factor in the industry.

The demand for “green metals” is a potential trigger for price hikes in the industry as it comes at premiums.

The VALCO smelter is well anchored in the IAI as it plays a pivotal role in both the upstream and downstream parts of the full value chain of the Integrated Aluminium Industry in Ghana.

With the projection of the building of four operating bauxite mines and two refineries under the IAI Masterplan as well as the revival of the downstream sector, the modernisation and expansion of the VALCO smelter is timely. A “sine qua non” to the realisation of Ghana’s Integrated Aluminium Industry, creating a new VALCO has more significance than ever before.

Source: VALCO Corporate Affairs

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