(Yicai Global) June 22 -- The biggest bauxite project that China has built in Guinea has reached its target capacity two months ahead of schedule.

The plant is capable of producing 1.1 million tons of the aluminum a month now, The Paper reported yesterday. Its first major sea-based freight delivery recently arrived at Fangchenggang Port in China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the report cited the project’s operator Aluminum Corp. of China as saying.

The firm, also known as Chinalco, struck a deal with the African nation’s government and state-owned mining firm La Societe Guineenne de Patrimoine Minier in October 2016 to build the facility. Construction began two years later.

The facility has over 2.4 billion tons of ore and about 1.75 billion tons of exploitable resources. Initial investment into the project was USD585 million and it was designed to put out 12 million tons of bauxite a year.

Editor: James Boynton