![]() ![]() Rio Tinto was able to retain two southern blocks (blocks 3 and 4) after paying the government £465m ($700m) as part of a settlement agreement signed in 2011. However, the past mining deals were scrutinised for corruption and irregularities under the government elected in December 2010. On the other hand, Rio Tinto completed an £860m ($1.35bn) deal for a joint venture partnership with China’s state-owned Chinalco for the development of the Simandou South project in July 2010. In April 2010, Brazilian iron ore miner Vale entered into a joint venture agreement with BSGR to acquire 51% interest in the Simandou North asset for £1.6bn ($2.5bn) out of which £330m ($500m) was immediately paid. These two blocks were handed over to BSG Resources (BSGR), a company owned by Israeli diamond tycoon Beny Steinmetz, in the same year. A mining convention for the Simandou deposit was signed between Rio Tinto and the government in the same year.Īlthough Rio Tinto received mining concession for the entire deposit in 2006, it was stripped of the mining rights over two northern blocks (block 1 and 1) in 2008. Simandou exploration licenses were renewed with a reduced total area of 738 km 2 in 2000, while the presence of massive commercial-scale high-grade iron ore at the deposit was confirmed in 2002. The Simandou prospect was divided into four exploration blocks, namely blocks 1 and 2 (Simandou North) and blocks 3 and 4 (Simandou South), and Rio Tinto was granted all four exploration licenses covering an area of 1,488 km 2 in 1997. The troubled history of the Simandou iron ore project International Finance Corporation (IFC), an arm of the World Bank, earlier held a 4.6% stake in the Simandou South, which it sold in October 2016. Simandou South (blocks 3 and 4) is owned by Simfer, a joint venture between Rio Tinto (45.05%), Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco 39.95%) and the Government of Guinea (15%). ![]() SMB-Winning Consortium comprises Singapore-based shipping company Winning International Group, Chinese aluminum producer China Hongqiao Group, Guinea-based integrated logistics company UMS and China-based Yantai Port Group. The two northern blocks (blocks 1 and 2) are owned by SMB-Winning Consortium (90%) and the Government of Guinea (10%). Simandou North and Simandou South ownership details The deposit contains friable hematite and goethite haematite.Įach half of the deposit is estimated to contain approximately two billion tonnes of recoverable high-quality iron ore reserves grading 66%-68% Fe. The deposit comprises banded iron formations (BIFs) within Paleoproterozoic and supracrustal sedimentary sequences in the southern block of the West African Craton. The Simandou deposit is located on the 110km-long Simandou hill range, approximately 650km south-east of Guinea’s capital city Conakry. Once in full production, Simandou North and Simandou South together can produce more than 200 million tonnes (Mt) of good quality steelmaking iron ore a year. SMB-Winning has agreed to build 650km of railroad and a deep-water port in Guinea as part of an £11.6bn ($15bn) investment for the Simandou North project.
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