[miningmx.com] – GUINEA was losing patience with the time it is taking Rio Tinto to develop the country’s Simandou iron ore deposit, said Bloomberg News.
In a report citing a government official, the newswire said that Guinea was considering its approach to developing another part of the deposit which will take $20bn to develop – two-thirds of which was related to infrastructure.
“They’re giving us the runaround,’ Cece Noramou, who is overseeing the infrastructure project, told Bloomberg News. “We’re running out of patience. We can’t spend our whole lives without any development.”
Rio Tinto declined to comment for the article.
“The government’s frustration is understandable, given that Rio has had its hands on the high-grade project for the better part of two decades,” said Investec Securities.
“While Rio appears to be playing a clever game in ensuring the project doesn’t get to compete with its Pilbara assets, there have been and still are significant headwinds against Simandou’s development, including the $15bn infrastructure bill, Ebola and concerns over security of tenure,” it said.
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