{"id":1169628,"date":"2020-03-05T08:40:34","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T14:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1016243"},"modified":"2020-03-05T08:40:34","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T14:40:34","slug":"china-backed-jv-about-to-start-work-at-guineas-simandou","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1169628","title":{"rendered":"China-backed JV about to start work at Guinea\u2019s Simandou"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>China is close to granting approval to some of its biggest<br \/>\nstate-owned companies to start developing the northern area of Simandou, one of<br \/>\nthe world\u2019s largest untapped iron ore deposits in Guinea, sources familiar with<br \/>\nthe process said on Thursday.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center d-xs-block d-sm-block d-md-none'>\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>A joint venture between Guinea\u2019s Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Miniere de Boke (SMB) and&nbsp;Singapore\u2019s&nbsp;Winning International Group, whose investors include Chinese aluminium producer Shandong Weiqiao and the Yanta\u00ef Port Group,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/china-backed-jv-to-develop-giant-simandou-north-iron-ore-deposit-in-guinea\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">secured in November rights to an area<\/a> of the massive iron deposit, under Guinea\u2019s mountainous jungle.<\/p>\n<p>But the partners have been unable to proceed as they need the official go-ahead from China\u2019s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), which oversees the largest government-owned enterprises.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>The prospect of seeing Simandou coming online within five years is seen as a threat by the world\u2019s top iron ore producers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>For over a decade, it seemed that Guinea\u2019s crown jewel<br \/>\ndeposit would never be mined, as it was caught up in wrangles between companies<br \/>\nthat held rights to it and authorities in the West African nation.<\/p>\n<p>In 2008, one of Guinea\u2019s former dictator stripped Rio<br \/>\nTinto\u2019s rights over two of the four blocks the deposit had been divided on and<br \/>\nhanded them to Israeli billionaire Benny Steinmetz\u2019s BSG Resources (BSGR). <\/p>\n<p>The world\u2019s No. 2 miner was able keep the two southern blocks,<br \/>\nbut only after paying $700 million to the government in 2011. That guaranteed Rio<br \/>\ntenure for the lifetime of the Simandou mine.<\/p>\n<p>That deal came under scrutiny in 2016, forcing the company<br \/>\nto&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/heads-roll-at-rio-tinto-over-simandou-probe-davies-valentine-fired\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fire two senior managers<\/a>&nbsp;over a questionable $10.5<br \/>\nmillion payment made to a consultant who helped the company secure the two<br \/>\nblocks and alerted authorities, including the US Department of Justice and<br \/>\nthe&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>Several investigations over&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/mining.com\/guinea-government-to-strip-vale-bsgr-of-all-simandou-rights-97066\/\" >bribery<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/mining.com\/bsgr-may-pay-1-2bn-no-show-simandou-related-hearing\/\" >corruption<\/a> followed,&nbsp;until a settlement between Steinmetz&nbsp;and Guinea <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/steinmetz-stages-guinea-comeback-sarkozy-brokered-deal\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">was reached<\/a> early last year, ending the bitter and long-dragged out dispute involving Rio Tinto, Vale SA and BSGR.<\/p>\n<p>As part of the agreement, Steinmetz\u2019s company agreed to walk away from the asset, but retained the right to mine\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/former-xstrata-boss-mick-davis-mine-guineas-zogota-iron-ore-deposit\/\" >the smaller Zogota deposit<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Major new source<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The prospect of seeing Simandou coming online within five<br \/>\nyears is seen as a threat by the world\u2019s top producers of the steelmaking<br \/>\nmaterial. The deposit is not just massive \u2014 it holds two billion tonnes of iron<br \/>\nore \u2014 but the quality the expected output will have some the highest grades in<br \/>\nthe industry.<\/p>\n<p>China is actively pushing forward with the project and a<br \/>\ndecision should come \u201cany time\u201d as SASAC is fine-tuning details, including how<br \/>\nthe project will be funded, the sources said.<\/p>\n<p>Chinalco will be involved in the development, but SASAC is also<br \/>\nreaching out to other state-owned companies about building a port and a<br \/>\n650-kilometer (400-mile) railway.<\/p>\n<p>Rio Tinto holds a 45% stake in blocks three and four of<br \/>\nSimandou, which it is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/rio-tinto-looks-at-developing-simandou-again-report\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">actively planning&nbsp;to develop<\/a>. State-controlled<br \/>\nChinalco owns 40% and the Guinea government 15%.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Both companies are said to be trying to persuade authorities<br \/>\nto let them use ArcelorMittal\u2019s railway to a port in neighbouring Liberia.<\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s resource dependence on Guinea&nbsp;has increased in<br \/>\nrecent years. In 2017, Beijing agreed to loan President Cond\u00e9\u2019s administration<br \/>\n$20 billion over almost 20 years in exchange for&nbsp;bauxite&nbsp;concessions.<\/p>\n<p>Analysts say Guinea\u2019s population has so far seen little benefit from Chinese investment.<\/p>\n<p><em>(With files from Bloomberg)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chinese agency overseeing the biggest government-owned companies is close to approving the development of the vast iron ore deposit.<\/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":"default","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":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","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-opacity":"","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-opacity":"","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-opacity":"","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-opacity":"","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-opacity":"","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-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2849,949,369,4,2640],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1169628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-intelligence","category-markets","category-miningcom","category-news","category-top-companies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"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=1169628"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1169736,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1169628\/revisions\/1169736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1169628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1169628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1169628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}