CONAKRY, Guinea — A brief protest over jobs at RusAl's Friguia alumina refinery in Guinea ended without loss of production, the firm and witnesses said Thursday.
Friguia, the biggest industrial project in the West African country, produces about 650,000 metric tons of alumina per year that the metals company ships to its smelters around the world.
"The protest is over," RusAl said, several hours after angry youths blocked the road to the plant, denying workers access.
A statement from the firm's headquarters in Moscow said the protest "has been resolved and had no affect on the alumina production volumes of the company."
Mining firms in Guinea, the world's biggest exporter of aluminum raw material bauxite, are frequently targeted by local people protesting against a lack of basic infrastructure in a country that remains poor despite its shipments of bauxite and other minerals.
The demonstrations usually last no more than two or three days, and are rarely violent.
Earlier, witnesses in Fria, where the refinery is located, said youths barricaded a road, also blocking people trying to travel to the capital Conakry.
RusAl, the world's biggest aluminum producer, is locked in a dispute with the government of Guinea over ownership of Friguia, which the state says was bought unlawfully by the company.
Guineans and investors in the country are awaiting the appointment of a transitional government. The country's military junta wants this government to organize what would be the first elections since a 2008 coup d'etat.
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