KEY POINTS
- Ghana has opened talks with Rosatom on its first nuclear power plant.
- Rusal will develop a bauxite mine with over 100 million metric tons of reserves.
- Russia backs Ghana’s plan to formally apply to join BRICS.
Ghana has opened talks with Russia’s state nuclear company, Rosatom, on building the West African nation’s first nuclear power plant, Africanews reported, citing Ghanaian media.
The talks surfaced as Russian President Vladimir Putin met Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama in Moscow, a day after a Russia-Africa summit there. At the summit, Mahama said Ghana was pursuing a more diverse energy mix to secure its power grid.
Nuclear power push comes with a mining deal
Meanwhile, Russian metals giant Rusal signed a deal with Ghana on Thursday to develop a bauxite mine. Rusal, one of the world’s largest aluminum producers, said it would form joint ventures with the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corp., or GIADEC, to mine up to 5 million metric tons of bauxite a year.
The project centers on the Nyinahin deposit in Ghana’s Ashanti region, where Rusal estimates reserves exceed 100 million metric tons. Bauxite is the main mineral used to make aluminum.
A second phase calls for an alumina refinery with annual capacity of 1.2 million metric tons, fed by bauxite from the same deposit. Alumina is the base material for smelting aluminum.
Rusal will hold a majority stake in both ventures, Nyinahin Bauxite and Ghana Alumina Company, the company said. Besides bauxite, Ghana is a major exporter of gold, cocoa and oil.
Moscow courts Africa amid sanctions
Still, the deals carry wider weight for Moscow. Russia has courted African countries since the Soviet era and has long seen the continent as a counterweight to what it views as Western dominance of world affairs.
The summit also came as Russia grapples with heavy Western sanctions over its war in Ukraine.
Ghana, meanwhile, is deepening its own ties. The country recently announced that it would formally apply to join BRICS, the bloc of emerging economies founded by Brazil, Russia, India and China that seeks a bigger voice in Western-dominated institutions.
And on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said Russia “strongly supports Ghana’s application.”
