Article by Danielle le Messurier courtesy of the West Australian.
Rio Tinto and its joint venture partners have reached a key infrastructure milestone with the Republic of Guinea towards the full sanctioning of the Simandou iron ore deposit in the West African country.
The mining giant said the parties had reached agreements on trans-Guinean infrastructure for the massive project, creating legal framework for the co-development of more than 600km of new rail line.
The rail will be used to export the steel-making ingredient from the Simandou mining concessions in the southeast of the country.
The agreements involve the Simfer joint venture, which is focused on the Simandou South Blocks 3 and 4, Winning Consortium Simandou, developers of Blocks 1 and 2, in addition to the Guinean government.
Rio is a majority shareholder and managing partner of Rio Tinto Simfer, a joint venture between Rio Tinto, Chalco Iron Ore Holdings and the Government of the Republic of Guinea.
“With these agreements we have reached an important milestone towards full sanction of the Simandou project, bringing together the complementary strengths and expertise of Rio Tinto and our partners . . . for the infrastructure that will unlock this world class resource,” Rio executive committee lead for Guinea and copper chief Bold Baatar said.
Rio said negotiations were continuing to finalise the investment agreements.
