RIO Tinto’s Simandou iron ore project in Guinea received all regulatory approvals including those from the local and Chinese governments, said Reuters citing a statement from the Australian miner.
The Simandou project, which has a complex ownership structure involving a Chinese consortium, has seen its construction delayed for years by legal wrangling and political changes locally.
The project has also been delayed by the difficulty and cost of the 600km of rail and port that need to be built to export the ore from the mines in the southeast of the country, said the newswire.
Global miner Rio Tinto owns two of the four Simandou mining blocks as part of its Simfer joint venture with China’s Chalco Iron Ore Holdings (CIOH) and the government of Guinea. Rio Tinto holds a 53% stake, while CIOH holds the rest.
Chalco Iron Ore Holdings is 75% held by Aluminum Corporation of China and 20% by Baowu Steel Group.
The giant Simandou iron ore project in Guinea, set to be the world’s largest and highest grade new iron ore mine, will commence production by 2025-end, and will add annual output of around 120 million tons of high-quality iron ore after it reaches full capacity, said Reuters.
Rio Tinto, which reported second-quarter iron ore shipments below analyst estimates earlier on Tuesday, had earmarked $800m for its share of the development in 2023 and around $2bn a year in 2024 and 2025.
