Dear Clients, Partners, Friends, and Visitors,

We wish to inform you that Africa Bauxite Corporation (ABC) has been subjected to fraudulent activities by some of its consultants and employees, notably Claude Lorcy, Philippe Rogers, and Ahmed Kanté. These individuals abused the trust and information belonging to ABC by creating a fictitious company named Guinea Investment Corporation (GIC), which replaced ABC in the joint venture with SD Mining (SDM).

Despite our efforts to resolve the conflict with GIC peacefully, negotiations have not yielded results to date. ABC's founder met with the Minister of Mines of Guinea in August 2019 to discuss the situation.

In January 2022, ABC initiated criminal proceedings in Conakry, Republic of Guinea. The preliminary investigation, conducted by the gendarmerie and then by the prosecutor of Kaloum, led to the opening of the criminal case in April 2022. A investigating judge, Abdoulaye Soumah, was appointed to oversee the case. It was discovered that Ahmed Kanté is the principal shareholder of GIC. In January 2023, Judge Soumah ordered the freezing of all assets held by Ahmed Kanté.

During this period, Ahmed Kanté and GIC signed an agreement with SD Mining to divide the mining areas on the GBT and Axis permits. However, this split was not recognized as legitimate by the Ministry of Mines.

Meanwhile, Claude Lorcy, then head of AGB2A, cooperated with the authorities and provided crucial information about the companies' structure and fund management. He himself went to the CRIEF (Court for the Repression of Economic and Financial Offenses) to initiate proceedings against Ahmed Kanté and GIC. Lorcy and Kanté had known each other for over twenty years and maintained a very close relationship. Lorcy had participated in various activities in support of Kanté when the latter was director of SOGUIPAMI, and it appears that he revealed to the CRIEF everything he knew about Kanté's involvement in various mining projects.

In September 2023, upon his return from Paris where he had gone for a medical check-up, Claude Lorcy died suddenly under troubling circumstances, without any specific investigation being opened.

However, Lorcy's actions led to the opening of two proceedings before the CRIEF (Special Criminal Court):

• the first, in which Lorcy (and now his wife) is a civil party, has already been tried in the first instance;
• the second, putting the State against Ahmed Kanté for breach of trust during his tenure as head of SOGUIPAMI, is still in the preliminary investigation stage.

In 2023, AGB2A-GIC entered a contract with Sinohydro to exploit their portions of Axis and GBT, as well as for the construction of the port facility. However, ABC informed Mr. Umber MU, Director General for West and Central Africa of Sinohydro, as well as Anna CHEN, Commercial Director of Sinohydro, and the Chinese embassy about the situation involving Kanté, who was under criminal investigation. Despite this, Sinohydro decided to continue its activity with the individual under criminal investigation.

In August 2023, AGB2A-GIC signed a contract with Top International.

According to ABC's legal counsel, numerous converging pieces of evidence incriminate Ahmed Kanté, reinforcing the accusations of breach of trust and fraudulent practices. During a public hearing at the Kaloum Court of First Instance, Prosecutor Youssouf Fofana described the charges against Ahmed Kanté as "intellectual banditry," a rare and loaded term denouncing the systematic use of public office and complex legal structures for personal enrichment.

Despite a lower court ruling in Kanté's favor, the Prosecution refused to dismiss the case and appealed to the Conakry Court of Appeal, arguing that the decision did not reflect the seriousness of the accusations or the extent of the evidence gathered.

Meanwhile, Claude Lorcy's wife, a civil party in the case, is pursuing both proceedings before the Special Criminal Court (CRIEF) in her quest for justice.
Due to the unrest surrounding the GBT and Axis projects, the government has revoked Axis's mining permit. The Ministry of Mines and Geology is now seeking a solution to protect the investments of the project's legitimate investors. It is actively working to restructure the permit system to favor legitimate investors. All stakeholders are awaiting the outcome of this process.

For his part, Ahmed Kanté is seeking to recover all or part of the permit for his company, GIC, despite three criminal proceedings initiated against him for breach of trust involving various partners in the GBT and Axis projects, including the State.

More details – timeline of the project (Timeline page)
Meddia suport of the conflict by years (Media)