Guinea expects the giant Simandou iron-ore project, which is expected to begin production by December, to achieve maximum output by its second year of operation.
The government projects the two mines at the world’s largest untapped iron-ore deposit will produce 30-million tons each in the first year, Mines and Geology Minister Bouna Sylla told Bloomberg TV in an interview. Output is then expected to double to 60 million tons at each cite the following year, he said on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Mining Indaba conference in Cape Town.
For a mine “to arrive at 60 million tons, that will take roughly two years because you have the ramp-up time,” Sylla said.
The Simandou project is divided into four blocks, with blocks 1 and 2 controlled by Winning Consortium Simandou, backed by Chinese companies including China Baowu Steel Group. Rio Tinto and Aluminum Corp of China, known as Chinalco, own blocks 3 and 4.
In addition to its iron-ore deposits, Guinea is also the world’s biggest exporter of bauxite, a raw material used to make aluminum.