Accra, June 19, GNA - ALCAN, the Canadian bauxite giant, is to establish a bauxite refinery in Ghana, a move President John Agyekum Kufuor says would help to add more value to the mineral resource. A site for the project has already been acquired at Sekondi-Takoradi in the Western Region.

Ms Jacynthe Cote, the Vice President of ALCAN International and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ALCAN Bauxite and Alumina, which has been operating in the country for over 60 years now, said good progress was being made on the refinery project.

This was when she lad a delegation of the company to pay a courtesy call on President Kufuor at the Castle, Osu, on Tuesday. She acknowledged the high quality of the country's mineral resource and said the financials were also good and that the company was delighted to have invested in Ghana.

President Kufuor expressed his delight about the refinery project, which incidentally coincides with the discovery of oil reserves off the coast of Axim and said, "It seems we are into the best of times."

He announced an ALCAN/Ghana partnership to exploit the huge bauxite deposits at Nyinahin in the Atwima-Mponua District of Ashanti and said the mineral would be refined in the country.

President Kufuor, during an earlier courtesy call on him by a delegation from the International Commercial Bank (ICB) Global Financial Holdings, spoke of the government's determination to ensure that the country's oil discovery became a blessing to the nation. He said Ghana would learn from the experience of countries that have succeeded in managing this natural resource well to the advantage of their economies and the benefit of their peoples.

Tun Dain Zainuddin, the Executive Chairman of the company, said in his country, Malaysia, oil has been of tremendous support to the economy. The prospects for Ghana therefore looked bright.