The consortium of the Societe Miniere de Boke and Winning Shipping (SMB-Winning) has won a tender to develop the Simandou iron ore blocks 1 and 2 in Guinea, Reuters has reported. The winning bid was $14 billion, while Fortescue Metals Group offered $9 billion.
The development of the deposit will require from the winner the construction of a 650 km railway and a deep-water port for iron ore exports. The resources at Simandou are estimated at 2 billion mt of good quality iron ore. “The Simandou Project will be crucial for Guinea’s future,” said Sun Xiushun, chief executive of SMB-Winning, adding that the infrastructure development will bring a lot of positive changes in the country.
Simandou’s blocks 3 and 4 have been owned by Rio Tinto and China Aluminium Corp (Chinalco), but in late October Rio Tinto decided to sell to sell its entire stake to Chinalco.
The consortium SMB-Winning is Guinea’s biggest bauxite exporter and includes such investors as Yantai Port Group, Guinea's government, and Chinese aluminium producer Shandong Weiqiao.
