Simandou iron ore project officially starts operations

The inauguration, held at Morebeya port on the west coast of Guinea, was attended by the President of the Republic of Guinea and project partners Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS), China Baowu, Chinalco and Rio Tinto. Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong also joined the ceremony during his state visit to Guinea as President Xi Jinping's representative, Mysteel Global learned.

Source: China Baowu Wechat official account

The Simandou project is home to iron ore reserves estimated at over 3 billion tonnes and with an average iron content of over 65%. It is divided into four blocks, with South blocks 3 and 4 owned by Rio Tinto SimFer, while North blocks 1 and 2 are developed by WCS.

Source: Rio Tinto, WCS

While having independent concession rights to their blocks, the two joint ventures are working together to develop the infrastructure necessary to export mined iron ore from the far southeast of the country to Guinea's maritime borders and beyond.

These include an over 600-kilometer-long multi-use trans-Guinean rail connecting the Simandou mines with the Morebeya Port, as well as barge and port facilities for transshipment.

Following commissioning and ramp-up, the infrastructure will support the export of a combined total of up to 120 million tonnes/year of iron ore, the targeted full production capacity of Simandou on the whole, according to the release.

Meanwhile, testing and commissioning of the mine, rail and barge port system infrastructure is underway, with ore already being transported from mine gate to port via the trans-Guinean rail line, as reported.

Once commissioned, all co-developed infrastructure and rolling stock will be operated by the Compagnie du TransGuinéen (CTG), a joint venture comprising the Government of the Republic of Guinea, WCS, and SimFer, according to Rio Tinto.

"The start of operations of the Simandou project marks a significant milestone in the history of the global mining industry," said Hu Wangming, Chairman of China Baowu. "The stable supply of Simandou's premium iron ore resources will provide a solid foundation of low-carbon raw materials for the development of China's steel industry and the global steel sector," he added.

Rio Tinto's Chief Executive Simon Trott highlighted that Simandou is unlocking an exceptional new source of high-grade iron ore that is in demand from customers for low-carbon steelmaking, enhancing the company's world-class portfolio of iron ore mines in the Pilbara and Canada.

Written by Irene Zhuang, zhuangailing@mysteel.com

Edited by Alyssa Ren, rentingting@mysteel.com