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0 The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC), Reindorf Twumasi Ankrah, has firmly rejected claims that the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) is being sold, stressing that the government is pursuing a long-established policy of strategic partnership to rescue the struggling aluminium smelter.
Mr Twumasi Ankrah clarified a media engagement, where he provided historical and operational context to ongoing discussions about VALCO’s future amid growing public debate and speculation.
According to him, after assuming office on March 2, 2024, he reviewed inherited documents and found that efforts to attract private investment into VALCO date back to at least 2019. As part of those efforts, KPMG was commissioned to conduct a comprehensive audit of the smelter and propose options for its revival and modernisation.
He explained that despite VALCO’s imposing physical presence, its performance falls far short of expectations. The smelter was originally designed with a nameplate capacity of 200,000 metric tonnes of aluminium per year, but current production stands at about 35,000 metric tonnes annually.
“For more than 15 years, VALCO has been operating at a loss,” he said, describing the situation as unsustainable.
Mr Twumasi Ankrah traced the company’s difficulties to its ownership history. He noted that when VALCO was established in 1967, it was wholly owned by private firms Kaiser and Reynolds, with no government shareholding. This arrangement remained until 2004, when Kaiser encountered bankruptcy challenges in the United States and sold its 90 per cent stake to the Government of Ghana. Reynolds later sold its remaining 10 per cent stake, making VALCO fully state-owned by 2008.
“From the time government took over full ownership and management, the company began to decline steadily,” he said, citing findings from the KPMG audit.
He revealed that the smelter was shut down entirely in 2022, with operations halted and workers sent home. According to him, shutting down and restarting an aluminium smelter is significantly more expensive than keeping it running, even when it operates at a loss.
By January 2025, VALCO’s debts had ballooned to about US$450 million, owed to institutions including GRIDCo, the Ghana Revenue Authority and the Tema Development Corporation. The mounting liabilities, he said, placed severe pressure on both creditors and the government.
“The plant was not contributing to GDP, and the government did not have the resources to keep injecting funds into it,” he explained, adding that a request was made for the plant to remain shut to provide financial breathing space.
Mr Twumasi Ankrah emphasised that the idea of bringing in a strategic investor is not new and predates the current administration. He said the proposal had been considered under previous governments, including during the first term of President John Dramani Mahama and later under former President Nana Akufo-Addo.
KPMG, he noted, recommended five possible options for reviving VALCO, with the preferred option being the introduction of an equity partner with the technical expertise and capital to co-own and manage the smelter alongside the government.
In May 2022, the government approved the search for such a partner, and PricewaterhouseCoopers was engaged as transaction adviser. However, the process stalled due to unresolved issues relating to power supply arrangements and the retention of existing stock.
Learning from that setback, GIADEC and its partners restructured the process. A new 12-member inter-ministerial committee was established, comprising representatives from the Ministries of Finance, Energy, Trade and Lands, as well as officials from VALCO and GIADEC. The committee was tasked with reviewing investor proposals and making recommendations to the board.
Mr Twumasi Ankrah disclosed that the board has since approved the committee’s recommendations, which have been forwarded to the sector minister and are now awaiting Cabinet approval to engage shortlisted investors formally.
He reiterated that the approach is strictly a strategic partnership and not a sale.
“VALCO is not for sale,” he stated. “What is being pursued is a co-ownership arrangement that successive governments have agreed is the most viable way to revive the company.”
Under the proposed plan, production would be restored to the original 200,000 metric tonnes per year and expanded to at least 300,000 metric tonnes within 36 months. The first year would target an output of 100,000 metric tonnes, followed by further expansion over the next two years.
Achieving this, he explained, would require retrofitting all six production lines at the plant, many of which are more than 60 years old and highly inefficient. The estimated investment required for the overhaul is about US$600 million, to be provided by the strategic partner in exchange for equity.
Mr Twumasi Ankrah revealed that some potential investors, including a Chinese firm, declined to participate after concluding that the same amount could be used to build a new smelter with full ownership. However, a consortium of investors has expressed willingness to partner with the government, citing local content considerations and the benefits of shared risk and reward.
Some of the interested investors, he added, have also indicated readiness to pay the government for the equity stake they acquire, in addition to injecting capital to modernise the facility.
He warned that failure to act swiftly could lead to further job losses. VALCO’s workforce has declined from about 1,800 employees in the 1990s to roughly 650 today, and the number could fall further if production does not improve.
Mr Twumasi Ankrah said President John Dramani Mahama has been clear that the government does not have US$600 million to invest directly in VALCO, making private-sector partnership the only realistic option.
“If nothing is done urgently, VALCO will have to shut down completely, and everyone will go home,” he said. “We are therefore engaging credible partners in the best interest of the country.”
He assured the public that the process is transparent and aimed solely at restoring VALCO as a viable industrial asset capable of creating jobs, supporting downstream industries and strengthening Ghana’s aluminium value chain.
About GIADEC
The Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation (GIADEC) was established by an Act of Parliament, the Ghana Integrated Aluminium Development Corporation Act, 2018 (Act 976), to develop and promote a globally competitive Integrated Aluminium Industry (IAI) in Ghana.
Under Act 976, GIADEC is mandated to hold and manage all Government of Ghana interests and investments in the IAI across the aluminium value chain. This includes mining, refining, smelting and downstream industries.
GIADEC currently holds the Government of Ghana’s entire shareholding in two existing companies — the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO) and the Ghana Bauxite Company Limited (GBC).
The corporation is pursuing partnerships with strategic investors, with local participation, across the entire bauxite and aluminium value chain. GIADEC, together with a Ghanaian private partner, will hold not less than a 30 per cent stake in any new IAI venture involving a mine, refinery or smelter.
