At a two-day board orientation retreat, the leadership of Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) issued a data-driven mandate for the future.

Either to transform or forfeit. The company’s pivot centres on moving beyond the export of raw aluminium to capturing the immense value of finished products, a shift executives say is important to the survival and revival of the smelter.

In an assessment, VALCO’s CEO, Dr. Robert Sambian, revealed the opportunity cost of the status quo.

“If the value addition phase one project… were fully in operation last year, based on the volumes that were exported in primary form, the company would have made extra revenue of $7 million,” he said.

This figure served as a wake-up call during the retreat, framing value addition not as a distant ambition but as an urgent financial imperative.

While the recently completed first phase focuses on producing electrical-grade rods, the company’s vision for 2026 is markedly more ambitious.

The CEO outlined a dual-track strategy aimed at fundamentally altering VALCO’s market position.

Firstly, a dedicated team is working to qualify the existing AC grid rod for the stringent European market, seeking higher-value export opportunities.

More significantly, development is underway on a multi-purpose value addition line.

This new capability would allow VALCO to produce a diverse range of high-demand products.

“It’s going to produce products ranging from flat rod sheets, coils, circles, plates, can stocks, all the way to foil,” Sambian said.

He highlighted foil used in pharmaceutical, food, and chocolate packaging as a “very high value-adding product” that represents the pinnacle of this new strategy.

“That is what we are working on this year to bring on board,” he noted.

The newly constituted board, undergoing orientation on corporate governance and finance, echoed the operational urgency. The Board Chairman, Horace Ankrah, firmly directed focus away from past struggles and toward future strategy.

He linked VALCO’s turnaround to President John Dramani Mahama’s national industrialisation agenda, expressing confidence that “the right strategy will be presented by the board” to revive the company.

Highlighting tangible progress, the Chairman pointed to the ramping up of production from 121 operational potlines (cells) with a target of 156 by August 2026.

“For what we have at the moment, I think that every department is doing its best to make sure that VALCO is viable,” he said.

When pressed on priorities for the year, his answer was “The most important aspect of all these things is downstream, I mean, adding value.”

He confirmed the timeline for the broader product expansion, noting that beyond rods, the production of sheets and foils is expected within the next year and a half.