Guinea’s junta signs US$15 billion deal for vast Simandou iron ore site
- The three-way deal has a 35-year duration for co-development by Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto and the Singapore-led Winning Consortium
- Development has previously been hampered for years by disputes over mining rights, suspicions of corruption and the scale of investment required
Guinea’s ruling junta has reached a US$15 billion deal with Rio Tinto and an Asian-Guinean consortium to exploit the vast Simandou iron ore deposit in the southeast, public television announced.
The three-way deal, signed late on Friday, has a 35-year duration for co-development by Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto and the Singapore-led Winning Consortium.
Guinea has stunning mineral wealth, including the world’s biggest untapped deposits of high-quality iron ore.
But the West African state remains mired in poverty and saddled with a reputation for corruption.
Blocks 1 and 2 of the Simandou deposit were attributed to the Winning Consortium and Blocks 3 and 4 to Rio Tinto.
Rio Tinto is allied with Chinese aluminium corporation Chinalco in a joint venture to exploit the deposit and Singapore’s Winning Shipping with Chinese aluminium producer Shandong Weiqiao, the Yantai Port Group and Guinean company United Mining Supply.
The Simandou site holds one of the biggest deposits of iron ore in the world.
