First Simandou iron ore dispatched from mine to port

The Simandou project, the world's largest source of untapped open-pit iron ore of the highest iron content located in Guinea, West Africa, has successfully dispatched its first shipment of iron ore from the mine site on October 20, according to the latest official WeChat post by Winning International Group, a crucial developer and key shareholder of the project.

Loaded in 50 open-top railcars, a total of 3,333 tonnes of iron ore was transported from the mine site of Simfer - a joint venture between Rio Tinto, the Government of Guinea, and Chalco Iron Ore Holdings - via the newly built trans-Guinea railway and arrived at the Port of Morebaya on the west coast of Guinea on October 21, the post mentioned.

The maiden dispatch serves as preparation for Simandou's first vessel shipment of iron ore, which is scheduled in November this year, according to Rio Tinto's third-quarter production results published on October 14.

The southern blocks of the Simandou project, operated by Rio Tinto's Simfer JV, are on track to ramp up to full capacity of 60 million tonnes over 30 months as planned after the first ore shipment in November, and the iron ore stockpiles at the Simfer mine gate had reached around 1.5 million tonnes by the end of September, the Australian mining giant said in the quarterly report.

At full production, Simandou will deliver 120 million tonnes of iron ore annually, with 60 million tonnes from the Simfer site and another 60 million tonnes from the northern blocks jointly owned by Winning Consortium Simandou and Baowu consortium, as Mysteel Global reported.

Written by Anthea Shi, shihui@mysteel.com

Edited by Alyssa Ren, rentingting@mysteel.com