The Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) has recorded its first profit in a long time after producing 29,506 metric tons of primary aluminium in the first nine months of 2026, generating over $113 million in revenue.

The Chief Executive Officer of VALCO, Dr. Robert Makika Sambia disclosed this when he addressed the media on the state of the company which will mark its 60th anniversary next March.

VALCO, which was established with a capacity of five potlines to produce 200,000 tonnes of primary aluminium per year, had profitable operations for its first 30 years but declined due to energy challenges, lack of investment and obsolete equipment.

"When we were appointed, we knew our work was cut out because the President is in a hurry to deliver on the reset agenda," Dr. Robert said.

He said management met a plant running at a restricted capacity of 104 cells out of 200, producing just about 40,000 tonnes per year out of its 200,000 installed capacity with revenues low, critical equipment very old and power unstable.

The CEO said the first management action was a mindset reset.

"We declared that the era of waiting, the era of difficult decisions, the era of accepted decline was over. And we asserted a new mindset  decisive action and ownership of outcomes," he said.

He explained that the old VALCO business model was built as a tolling entity for Kaiser of the US where value was locked outside Ghana. 

As part of the reset agenda, management has developed a five-year strategic plan.

The plan is in two phases: Optimization of existing operations to fully utilize the 200 cells, and medium to long-term modernization including conversion to natural gas, retrofitting, and new greenfield investments the company terms 'Project Falcon'.

The CEO said VALCO has undertaken the most significant injection of equipment since Kaiser left almost two decades ago.

"We were renting equipment and paying high rent. When we calculated, there was a payload on rent that ran for almost six months and the rental cost was the same as the cost of a new payloader. We said this is not acceptable. So we changed from rent to rent to own," he said.

Through that, the plant has acquired 16 brand new forklifts, two payloaders, one dump truck, articulators, melting furnaces and crucially, three cranes that have never been replaced since the establishment of the plant.

One crane has already been inspected and certified for shipment and will be installed in the next six weeks.

He, however, disclosed that the ramp up from 104 cells to 124 cells by June suffered a setback when a rainstorm tripped the national grid, causing VALCO to lose about 80 cells and drop to 90 cells. 

Measures have since been put in place and the company is on a strong recovery trajectory to hit 200 cells by 2027.

"Year to September, we produced 29,506 metric tons. We made revenue of $113.85 million. This is a record in a very long time. The bottom line is positive. We made profit of $1.4 million for the first nine months, before depreciation and interest," Dr. Makika Sambia announced.

Describing value addition as the icing on the cake, the CEO said VALCO has within nine months realized its long awaited rod and rolling mill project which is now producing and supplying to local and international markets.

"This will deepen local industrialization, create sustainable jobs, reduce reliance on imported aluminium and increase export earnings," he said.

The project is running a 1-4-4 shift system under the 24-hour economy programme to meet huge demand from Europe, North and South Africa.

"We do not have expatriates. Everything we do is 100% Ghanaian and we have proudly labelled the products Made in Ghana," he stressed.

Looking ahead, Dr. Makika Sambia said the long-term vision is to realize 1.5 million tonnes per year within a decade, requiring $2.5 billion to $4 billion investment, generating over $3 billion in annual revenue and over 5,000 direct jobs plus millions of indirect jobs through the integrated aluminium industry.

"We have not solved all the challenges, but we have made a dent. We need external help. If along the way external help comes, it will accelerate the pace of transformation. We are currently in negotiations with potential investors," he added.