Mining industry of Guinea-Bissau

Mining in Guinea-Bissau is limited to small-scale production of construction materials, such as clays, granite, limestone, and sand and gravel.

[1] Red Back Mining Inc. through its subsidiary Champion Industrial Minerals (CIM) held a mining lease and after completing a technical and market evaluation in 2003, the company concluded that the project had advanced to a stage where it required a level of developmental, operational, and marketing expertise that was beyond CIM's capacity; since that time, the company has attempted to either locate a suitable partner to develop the Farim deposit or to sell it.

[1] Over the past 10 years, licences changed hands between companies for reasons similar to those advanced by CIM, i.e. technical inability to perform required work.

[2] More recently, the licence has been held by GB Minerals which signed in 2009 a production agreement with the Guinea-Bissau government.

[2] As the economic prospects have become more enticing in the past decaden a lease was granted to a firm named Bauxite Angola in 2007, which has recently made announcements of investments of up to US$500 million.