Guinea's interim president Mamady Doumbouya said on Friday at a meeting with mining company Rio Tinto Group and the China-backed Simandou Alliance (WCS) that simandou iron ore Partners had 14 days to finalise the joint venture.
Guinea is growing impatient with the mining companies that control simandou's giant deposit. The mine has not been developed since Rio Tinto was first granted an exploration licence 25 years ago.
Simandou Iron mine is the world's largest undeveloped high-quality open-pit hematite resource with the highest grade and the largest reserves, among which the reserves of no. 1 and No. 2 ore blocks with grade above 65 are estimated at more than 3.6 billion tons. The Simandou Win Consortium (WCS), jointly formed by Willy International, Shandong Weiqiao, UMS of France and Yantai Port, successfully won the rights to block 1 and block 2 through an international bidding process organized by the Government of Guinea.
"I expect that the joint venture will be established within 14 days," Doumbouya said at the conference. His office posted a video of the meeting online.
In March, Guinea's military government signed an agreement with Rio Tinto and WCS under which the two companies will work together to build a 670-km (416-mile) railway and a port to bring Simandou's high-grade ore to market.
Doumbouya says since then, not enough progress has been made. "This situation is not only regrettable, but above all, unacceptable for the country."
Guinean authorities had previously warned that mining companies would lose their mining licences if they failed to complete simandou on time.
