Indian billionaire Pankaj Oswal has taken Guinea to arbitration in New York, seeking more than $1 billion in damages after his company, Axis Minerals, lost its licence to operate a massive bauxite deposit in the Boffa region. The revocation, part of a sweeping shake-up of Guinea’s mining register, has sparked fresh concerns among investors about the country’s resource policies.
Axis Minerals, a subsidiary of Oswal Global, was among 51 firms stripped of permits on May 14, 2025. Oswal said the news came as a shock. “I was asleep when I got a message at 2am saying, ‘Our mine is gone.’ At first I thought it was a joke until we confirmed Conakry had cancelled 51 licences,” he told RFI.
Guinean authorities defended the move, insisting most of the cancelled licences breached the mining code. But Oswal rejected that explanation, saying Axis Minerals met all obligations and was never asked to build a refinery or downstream plant. “From one day to the next, our operations stopped, and 5,000 workers were left without jobs. No letter, no warning, nothing,” he said.
In July, Axis Minerals filed arbitration proceedings in New York, formally serving Guinea on September 1. The company is demanding more than $1bn in compensation. “I don’t want this fight, but they’ve left me no choice. The only power we have is the power of the pen,” Oswal said, while hinting he might still invest in Guinea if the dispute is resolved.
Axis Minerals, which began operations in 2013, had exported nearly 40 million tonnes of bauxite between 2023 and 2025, most of it to China. But with the licence cancellation, Oswal warns Guinea is sending the wrong message to global investors, even as it pushes its ambitious $20bn Simandou 2040 iron ore project. “Why would new investors come when those who are already here are being pushed out?” he asked.
