The Ghanaian Journal

The Ghanaian Journal sortie can reveal that Norway’s aluminium group Norsk Hydro has denied buying the 70 percent stake in VALCO.

According to a source the company had no intention of investing in Ghana, whose authorities approved on Friday a potential sale of state aluminium maker VALCO to Hydro and a Brazilian firm.

Parliament had approved a deal for the sale of 70 percent of state aluminium maker VALCO to Brazil’s Vale (CVRD) and Norsk Hydro for $175.5 million.

“Hydro has no plans to make any investments in Ghana,” Norsk Hydro spokesman Stefan Solberg told Reuters when asked about the decisions made by the Ghana assembly.

“We have not signed any agreement. This is something we have looked at just like (we have looked at) other places in the world,” Solberg said.

Ghana said that under the deal, the two companies will invest $4.7 billion in new bauxite mining and an alumina refinery, along with outlays for railway and power generation.

VALCO has been inactive since March 2007 when it was shut down due to power shortages.