A three-member multi-national investment delegation from BH-P Billinton, Australia, on Monday paid a courtesy call on Mr Kwadwo Adjei Darko, Minister of Mines.

The call was a follow-up of an application the company put in for a prospecting licence to review the potential of the bauxite deposits at Nyinahin in the Ashanti Region and Krobreso, near Kibi, in the Eastern Region for the development of an integrated bauxite alumina operation in Ghana.

A statement issued in Accra said the delegation was led by Mr Philip Galloway, Vice president of business Development. The statement said the company would sink over one billion dollars into the project and is looking for a minimum of 50 years production and an annual extraction of 10 million tonnes of ore.

Anticipated spin-over from the project would include infrastructure development in the catchment areas, extended and improved railway system in the country, job creation from exploration stage through mining to the processing stage, payment of corporate taxes, royalties, ground rent, proliferation of aluminium-based industries.

Mr Galloway said Ghana has enormous reserves of bauxite and could boast of the existence of a smelting plant being run by Kaiser's VALCO at Tema.

"The missing link here is a refinery to process the raw bauxite into alumina. Currently the bauxite deposit at Awaso is being mined and exported in its raw state due to the absence of a refinery of bauxite alumina plant in the country."

The statement said BHP Billinton's investment would fulfil the country's dream of an integrated alumina industry.

The Minister assured the delegation of his support and promised to do all he could to quicken action of the company's application considering the enormous benefits the project is expected to bring to the country.

BHP Billinton is the world's largest mining company, which was established with the merger of BHP Limited of Australia and Billinton PLC of the United Kingdom that engaged in the production of basic metals including coal, nickel and aluminium. It has integrated aluminium plants in Australia, South Africa and Brazil.