A consortium of Guinea’s Societe Miniere de Boke (SMB) and Singapore’s Winning said on Wednesday it won a tender to develop blocks 1 and 2 of Guinea’s giant Simandou iron-ore project, edging out Australia’s Fortescue in a $14-billion deal.
The consortium committed to developing the mine, which holds over two-billion tonnes of high-grade ore, the largest known deposit of its kind, but which has been held up by legal disputes and high costs.