The aluminium industry is heavily dependent on Guinea, the biggest exporter of bauxite, the raw material used in manufacture of the metal. Guinea, in turn, relies on mining revenues.
But an attempted coup following the death of Lansana Conte, the long-serving dictator, has thrown into uncertainty the country's politics and policies, including the status of a $6bn iron ore project that has pitted Rio Tinto against the government in a licence dispute.
A group of soldiers calling itself the National Council for Democracy and Development broadcast over state radio yesterday that it would dissolve the government, citing endemic corruption and an economic crisis. But the former president's deputies appeared to retain partial control of the military, which guarded the capital Conakry.