VALCO has begun positioning itself for a major shift in its business model, with the company now targeting the European market after test samples from its new value-addition line reportedly met international standards.
This comes after the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO) hosted journalists and stakeholders at its Tema facility during a media tour led by top management, as the company outlines a broader strategy to transform from a primary aluminium exporter into a value-added producer.
Speaking after the tour, Acting Chief Executive Officer Dr. Robert Makila Sambian said the value addition plant, installed and test-produced several times, is already performing above local standards and is now being prepared to meet European requirements.
He said VALCO has already sent samples to Canada for testing, with results returning positive, and a trial order is now being arranged for shipment to Europe for field testing.
Once that process is completed, he said management intends to use the Board Chairman to formally invite President John Dramani Mahama to commission the facility.
The CEO said VALCO’s recovery strategy is being anchored on four main projects:
- Scaling up production to maximise output from existing pot lines
- Value addition to transform the company’s business model
- Natural gas conversion, moving away from residual fuel oil
- Installation of scrubbers to harvest and re-inject fluoride, reducing emissions and boosting cost competitiveness
He said the value addition plant was completed in August and has since recorded repeated test production success, while the gas conversion project is already halfway complete.
He also noted the company is introducing operational reforms beyond the four main projects, including changing how anodes are held in cells. He explained that the company has historically used copper rods but plans to replace them with aluminium bars, a move he says will significantly reduce costs and align VALCO with global best practices.
Dr Sambian said VALCO is also developing a larger transformational plan, beyond the current improvements, to modernise the remaining idle pot lines or build a new greenfield line using state-of-the-art technology.
He explained that the long-term plan includes:
- increased capacity utilisation
- power generation considerations
- backward integration to support a refinery for processing bauxite into alumina
- expanded downstream value addition beyond the current rod mill phase
He described the rod mill as “phase one” and said phase two is already being pursued, with the goal of converting at least 50 per cent of primary aluminium into value-added products.
According to him, the long-term benefits could be massive, including thousands of direct jobs and several multiples of indirect employment, excluding multiplier effects.
The company’s long-term ambition is to shift Ghana’s aluminium production from a legacy industrial model into a competitive value chain system that supports both exports and domestic manufacturing.
With its value addition facility moving through international testing and management pushing structural reforms in production and fuel use, VALCO says it is laying a base to improve efficiency and reposition Ghana’s aluminium industry for global competitiveness.
Dr Sambian believes that if the European testing succeeds, the company’s new value addition direction could become a defining step in VALCO’s broader turnaround and Ghana’s aluminium ambitions.
