Rio Tinto consortium agrees rail deal for iron ore mine in Guinea

The development of the world’s biggest untapped iron ore deposit came a step closer after Rio Tinto and its consortium partners agreed a deal with the Guinea government for building a rail line.

The Simandou project in Guinea has some of the richest iron ore deposits anywhere in the world, but its development has been frustrate for years by disputes over ownership and infrastructure, and by political changes in Guinea. Yet in the past year, a series of agreements have moved its development closer.

Rio said Friday that it had struck a deal with Guinea and the Winning Consortium Simandou, which is building another project at Simandou to develop the 600 kilometres of rail lines needed to transport the iron ore to the port.

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Simandou is divided into four blocks, with blocks 1 and 2 controlled by the Winning Consortium Simandou, backed by Chinese and Singaporean companies, while Rio and Aluminum Corporation of China, known as Chinalco, own blocks 3 and 4.

The two parties have been in discussions about the shared access to the railway, as well as other areas such as the environmental impact. Rio said Friday that rail and port capacity and the costs of building them will be shared equally between the two consortia.

Rio said last year that its share of the project would be roughly $4 billion. It offers the world’s No 2 miner a potentially huge source of supply as the company looks to grow its most profitable business.

“With these agreements we have reached an important milestone towards full sanction of the Simandou project,” Bold Baatar, Rio’s executive in charge of the project, said on Friday.

Guinea has shown flexibility in the project schedule that makes room for extending the commencement of production by a year to the first quarter of 2026, Gerard Rheinberger, Rio’s managing director for Simandou, told reporters in Guinea’s capital, Conakry on Friday. The extending will only be considered in case of force majeure, he said.

The initial agreement signed by the partners last year sets December 2024 for the completion of construction of the mine and the infrastructure and the start of production in the first quarter of the following year.

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Key figures in the life of the fort

Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.

Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.

Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.

Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.

Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.

Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae

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Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.

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