Guinea Orders Rio Tinto, SMB to Halt Work on Simandou Iron-Ore Reserves
July 05 2022 - 5:58AM
Dow Jones News
By Emmanuel Tumanjong
Special to Dow Jones Newswires
The military junta in Guinea Conakry has suspended
Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto PLC and the SMB-Winning Consortium
from mining activities on the iron-ore reserves in Simandou after a
deadline to create a joint venture was missed.
"Despite the wide concessions that the government of Guinea has
been willing to make, it is clear that the blockage continues to be
maintained by your respective companies to the detriment of the
interest of the project," Guinea Mines and Geology Minister Moussa
Magassouba said in a letter signed and issued Monday to the
companies.
"Taking into account that the 14-day extension granted was not
used by your companies to create the joint venture, I order you to
immediately cease all activities related to the Simandou project
throughout the entire national territory as of this Monday, July 4
at 8 am, (local time)," Minister Magassouba's injunction quoted
junta leader Mamady Doumbouya as saying.
"Your inertia in formulating the modalities of state
participation in the joint venture's share capital is dangerously
undermining the effective implementation of the project in the best
interests of stakeholders," the letter said.
In June, the governing junta provided Rio Tinto and SMB with a
14-day extension to a previous deadline to agree to the joint
venture, which would consist of the two companies and the Guinea
government.
On March 26, the mining companies and Guinea reached an
agreement for the construction of a 670 kilometer-long railway to
link the mining corridor to a mineral port on the Guinean coast in
the south of Conakry. They have been scheduled to complete the
project by December 2024 and the first commercial output of the
minerals is expected to be completed by March 2025.
Guinea Conakry owns an estimated 4 billion tons of iron ore
deposit in Simandou, located in southeastern Guinea.
Neither Rio Tinto nor SMB-Winning Consortium could be reached
for comment.
Write to Barcelona Editors at barcelonaeditors@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 05, 2022 06:43 ET (10:43 GMT)
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