{"id":1111687,"date":"2019-04-18T10:27:19","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T10:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=983041"},"modified":"2019-04-18T10:27:19","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T10:27:19","slug":"mick-davis-a-step-closer-to-mining-iron-ore-in-guinea-with-liberia-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1111687","title":{"rendered":"Mick Davis a step closer to mining iron ore in Guinea with Liberia deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Niron Metals, an investment vehicle co-founded and headed by the former boss of Xstrata Mick Davis,\u00a0has struck a deal with Liberia allowing it to use a rail and port to export iron ore from Guinea&#8217;s Zogota deposit, previously owned by BSG Resources (BSGR).<\/p>\n<p>Gaining access to the shipping route, the same Guinea has vetoed for years for the much larger Simandou project, could help Davis bring the proposed mine into production quickly and relatively cheaply.<\/p>\n<p><q class='pullQuote-right'>Gaining access to the shipping route, the same Guinea has vetoed for years for the much larger Simandou project, could help Davis bring Zogota iron ore mine into production quickly and relatively cheaply.<\/q><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis MOU is an important milestone in our plans to develop the Zogota project,\u201d Davis said in an emailed statement. \u201cWe intend to complete our feasibility study within six months and continue to work with relevant stakeholders to bring Zogota rapidly into production for the benefit of all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Guinea has always said that ore mined from Simandou would have to be shipped via the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/guinea-not-flexible-simandou-infrastructure-minister\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">country\u2019s own ports<\/a>, but has shown more flexibility when it comes to the much smaller Zogota.<\/p>\n<p>Davis\u2019 comeback to the mining industry was made possible thanks to a deal between the Guinean government and BSGR, which ended a long-running dispute\u00a0over mining rights in the resource-rich west African country. The miner, controlled by Israeli diamond billionaire Beny Steinmetz, has been embroiled in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/guinea-government-to-strip-vale-bsgr-of-all-simandou-rights-97066\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">bribery<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/bsgr-may-pay-1-2bn-no-show-simandou-related-hearing\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">corruption probes<\/a>, but has consistently <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/bsgr-boss-house-arrest-ends-with-no-charges-over-guinea-bribery-claims\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">denied any wrongdoing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the make-up agreement, Davis was asked to develop the Zogota iron ore project, expected to produce around 2 million tonnes of iron ore a year.<\/p>\n<p>Davis is well known in the mining industry. He led Xstrata from a $500 million business in the early part of the last decade to an operation so big that \u2014 at one point \u2014 it made a takeover offer for Anglo American (LON:AAL).<\/p>\n<p>His latest venture, mining fund X2 Resources, ended up losing its backers as it was\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/mick-davies-x2-resources-fails-deliver-frees-investors-commitments\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">unable to score any deals<\/a>\u00a0in the three years since launch.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-983052\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/guinea-lost-potential-iron-ore-bloomberg.png\" alt=\"Mick Davis a step closer to mining iron ore in Guinea with Liberia deal\" width=\"1200\" height=\"761\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/guinea-lost-potential-iron-ore-bloomberg.png 1200w, http:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/guinea-lost-potential-iron-ore-bloomberg-300x190.png 300w, http:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/guinea-lost-potential-iron-ore-bloomberg-768x487.png 768w, http:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/guinea-lost-potential-iron-ore-bloomberg-1024x649.png 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Niron said it had started work on a feasibility study, which aims to complete within six months, adding that it was in discussions with Guinea on a number of issues, including payments and project milestones.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/mick-davis-step-closer-mining-iron-ore-guinea-liberia-deal\/\">Mick Davis a step closer to mining iron ore in Guinea with Liberia deal<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/\">MINING.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Niron Metals, an investment vehicle co-founded and headed by Davis, has struck a deal with Liberia allowing it to use a rail and port to export iron ore from Guinea&#8217;s Zogota iron ore deposit.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/mick-davis-step-closer-mining-iron-ore-guinea-liberia-deal\/\">Mick Davis a step closer to mining iron ore in Guinea with Liberia deal<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/www.mining.com\/\">MINING.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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