{"id":1132273,"date":"2019-08-13T11:46:27","date_gmt":"2019-08-13T16:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=999182"},"modified":"2019-08-13T11:46:27","modified_gmt":"2019-08-13T16:46:27","slug":"mining-billionaire-steinmetz-faces-trial-in-geneva-over-alleged-bribery-in-guinea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1132273","title":{"rendered":"Mining billionaire Steinmetz faces trial in Geneva over alleged bribery in Guinea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Israeli diamond tycoon Beny<br \/>\nSteinmetz, owner of BSG Resources (BSGR), will go on trial in Geneva over allegedly<br \/>\nbribing government officials in Guinea in order to obtain mining rights over<br \/>\nthe vast Simandou iron ore project.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Steinmetz and two associates are<br \/>\nsaid to have given $10 million to one of the wives of former Guinean President<br \/>\nLansana Conte, who died in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>The magnate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/steinmetz-stages-guinea-comeback-sarkozy-brokered-deal\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">reached a deal with Guinean authorities<\/a> in February, which saw corruption charges against him lifted in exchange for giving up his remaining rights to Simandou. <\/p>\n<p>The country also agreed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/former-xstrata-boss-mick-davis-mine-guineas-zogota-iron-ore-deposit\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">partner with mining veteran Mick Davis<\/a>, who will develop the Zogota iron ore deposit, which also belonged to BSGR.<\/p>\n<p>Geneva, however, has continued its<br \/>\ninvestigation, which could see Steinmetz jailed for up to 10 years if<br \/>\nconvicted.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Chequered history<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Simandou is one of the world\u2019s<br \/>\nrichest reserves of high-grade iron ore, holding an estimated 2 billion tonnes<br \/>\nof the steelmaking ingredient. It\u2019s also one of the most easily exploitable<br \/>\niron ore fields outside of Australia\u2019s Pilbara region and top producer Vale\u2019s<br \/>\nBrazilian home base.<\/p>\n<p>The asset, however, has been a<br \/>\nsource of headaches for Rio since it was first granted rights to start<br \/>\nprospecting for iron ore two decades ago.<\/p>\n<p>In 2008, one of Guinea\u2019s former dictators<br \/>\nstripped Rio\u2019s rights over two of the four blocks and handed them to BSGR. Rio<br \/>\nwas able keep to the two southern blocks, but only after paying $700 million to<br \/>\nthe government, which guaranteed the miner tenure for the lifetime of the<br \/>\nSimandou mine.<\/p>\n<p>That deal came under scrutiny in<br \/>\n2016, forcing Rio to&nbsp;managers over a questionable $10.5 million payment<br \/>\nmade to a consultant who helped the company secure the two blocks and alerted<br \/>\nauthorities, including the US Department of Justice and the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/uk-serious-fraud-office-launches-probe-rio-tinto-simandou\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">UK\u2019s Serious Fraud Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>BSGR and Steinmetz were also subject of several investigations over\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/mining.com\/guinea-government-to-strip-vale-bsgr-of-all-simandou-rights-97066\/\" >bribery<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/mining.com\/bsgr-may-pay-1-2bn-no-show-simandou-related-hearing\/\" >corruption accusations<\/a>, which ended in February this year, through a\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/steinmetz-stages-guinea-comeback-sarkozy-brokered-deal\/\" >deal with\u00a0Guinean President Alpha Conde<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Currently, the West African country is accepting bids for the blocks given up by Steinmetz. Interested companies <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/guinea-extends-deadline-to-bid-for-vacant-blocks-of-giant-simandou-iron-ore-deposit\/\" >have until Aug. 19<\/a> to draw the necessary documents to prepare their proposal.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Swiss prosecutors allege Steinmetz paid $10 million in 2005-2010 to obtain mining rights over the vast Simandou iron ore project.<\/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 center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[369,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1132273"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1132273"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1132273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1132373,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1132273\/revisions\/1132373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1132273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1132273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1132273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}