Chinese steel company Baosteel Group and China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) are to participate in the Guinea-based Simandou iron ore project of Aluminum Corporation of China Limited (Chalco), as announced by Chalco spokesman Yuan Li.
In July 2010, Chalco and Australian miner Rio Tinto signed an agreement to develop the Simandou iron ore project, holding 44.65 percent and 50.35 percent of shares respectively. The remaining five percent of shares are owned by International Finance Corporation (IFC), a branch of the World Bank. The project is scheduled to be put into production within five years, reaching an annual production capacity of 70 million mt of iron ore.
Baosteel and CRCC will mainly carry out port and railway infrastructure work within the scope of the project. The shareholding of Chalco in the project will not be diluted.