The National Transition Council of Guinea-Conakry approved a joint development deal for the Simandou iron ore project, which aims to complete construction of the mining complex and TransGuinean corridor by the end of 2024. Simandou is poised to become the world’s largest and highest-grade new iron ore mine, with an estimated reserve of over 1.8 billion tons, having an iron content exceeding 65.5%.
Discovered in the mid-1990s, the deposit has been the subject of prolonged negotiations due to its complex ownership structure including global miner Rio Tinto, and Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS) – a subsidiary of the Singaporean shipping group Winning International. WCS holds blocks 1-2, while Rio Tinto Simfer holds blocks 3-4 of the Simandou project. Rio Tinto now expects to start production in October 2025, reaching 60 million tons per year within just 30 months, of which it will take 27 million tons per year. WCS is also targeting 60 million tons per year.
The presence of Baowu Steel, a Chinese producer with a stake in the Simandou project, indicates that the majority of the iron ore production will be exported to China, the world’s leading steel manufacturer, with 1.02 billion metric tons in 2023. As the Simandou reserves are located in the heart of the Simandou Mountains, near the borders of Liberia and the Ivory Coast, the project includes a 600 km multi-purpose and multi-user railway and port.
This TransGuinean railway corridor will require the construction of 235 bridges and more than 24 Km of tunnels, the longest of which will be 11km. Starting near Port Morebaya, the proposed line would run east to Forecariah Port and then along the border with Sierra Leone to reach a terminus in the Simandou mining area. While the possibility of exporting the iron ore via Liberia or Sierra Leone had been discussed by operators, the Guinean government has always pushed for the construction of infrastructure in Guinea-Conakry. The February 2024 decision to lay the foundation stone for the Simandou project represents a victory for the TransGuinean corridor, which will become the highest-capacity heavy-haul line in Africa.
In 2019, the TransGuinéen joint venture was established between the government of Guinea (15%) with Winning Consortium Simandou (42.5%) and Rio Tinto Simfer (42.5%), which hold iron ore mining rights in the Simandou mountains. In December 2023, it was agreed that WCS would build the 536 Km dual-track mainline, a 16km spur line to its mine, and a wharf at Matakong to handle 60 million tons of iron ore per year. Rio Tinto would build the port itself, including an iron ore terminal, plus a 70 km spur line to its mine, investing a total of $6.2 billion. Under the terms of the deal, other mining users and passenger services will have access to the railway, which may be built with spare capacity in mind.
The economic benefits to other sectors will also be significant, as evidenced by the partnership between Rio Tinto and the Belgian development agency Enabel, concluded in January 2024, which aims to stimulate economic development along the TransGuinean corridor. Priority areas include promoting local content, and conducting studies on promising sectors such as agro-industry, tourism and waste management along the trans-Guinean corridor.
In the long term, Guinea-Conakry could also integrate the TransGuinean corridor project within a sub-regional dynamic to ensure interconnection between countries. Railway transport represents a real opportunity to establish a strategic corridor for passenger and freight transportation to Mali, Burkina Faso and northern Nigerian cities, which are seeking an economic and fast solution for access to the sea.
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