Rio Tinto Enters Joint Venture to Exploit Guinea's Simandou Iron Ore Project
July 28 2022 - 7:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Emmanuel Tumanjong
Special to Dow Jones Newswires
A Rio Tinto PLC subsidiary has agreed to enter a joint venture
with the government of Guinea and China-backed consortium Winning
Consortium Simandou to develop infrastructure for the West African
nation's huge Simandou iron-ore deposit.
Guinea-based railroad manufacturing company Rio Tinto Simfer
will co-develop railway and seaport infrastructure serving
Simandou, which is among the world's largest undeveloped, rich
deposits of iron ore--the main ingredient in steel--and has the
potential to reshape the global market, which has traditionally
been dominated by exports from Australia and Brazil.
The WCS consortium is 45% owned by Singapore's Winning
International Group, while China Hongqiao Group Ltd. owns 35%.
"The signing of this agreement highlights the importance of the
Simandou deposits in today's decarbonizing world. Its development
will complement the solid ore portfolio of Rio Tinto's iron," Bold
Baatar, chief executive of Rio Tinto Copper said in a statement
Wednesday.
The agreement paves the way for the joint venture, named
Compagnie du TransGuineen, to construct a 416-mile railroad to link
the mining corridor to a mineral port on the Guinean coast in the
south of Conakry. The infrastructure project is scheduled to
complete by December 2024, while the first commercial output of
minerals is expected by March 2025.
Write to Barcelona Editors at barcelonaeditors@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 28, 2022 08:14 ET (12:14 GMT)
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