The Simandou mountain range in southeastern Guinea, once a dense forest where exploration teams relied on GPS and helicopters to navigate, has yielded vast reserves of its sought-after high-grade iron ore after decades of delay.
Workers struggled to define the layout of the thick forest before clearing the trees and brush at the site set for the Simandou Iron Ore project, “as it was nothing but darkness”, according to Chris Aitchison, the managing director for Rio Tinto’s Simfer joint venture.
Rio Tinto and Chinese firms have spent more than US$20 billion to develop the ore and build a 650km (403-mile) railway line and port, making it one of the largest mining and infrastructure projects in Africa, an undertaking required to transport the ore from Simandou to Guinea’s coast for export.
Major works for the railway and deep water port started in 2022, and the massive infrastructure – involving 206 bridges and four tunnels through challenging terrain – was built at an unprecedented speed.
This was made possible not only by the ambition of Rio Tinto and Chinese firms to secure the valuable iron ore, but by a forceful Guinean government’s military-like mandate, China’s logistical and engineering capacity enabling the rapid construction and massive financial muscle among the partners to break a crucial deadlock.
As the railway line was undergoing tests, the project reached a milestone with the first ore moved to the port by rail on November 11, followed by the first shipment of 200,000 tonnes of ore to China on December 2.
The launch of the project at Morebaya port on November 11 was attended by top Guinean officials as well as Chinese and regional African leaders.
In November, standing at the peak of the mountain rich in iron ore, Aitchison reflected on the scale of the transformation and the milestone reached.
He recalled standing at the junction of the twin rail spurs, those disappearing towards Blocks 1 and 2 under development by the China-backed Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS) and Baowu Resources, and Blocks 3 and 4 owned by Rio Tinto and its Chinese partners Chinalco, and seeing the project’s first locomotives carrying iron ore set off to the port. He described the moment as “very special”.
Guinean President Mamady Doumbouya, who had seized power in a military coup in 2021, mandated that the two competing groups – Rio Tinto and WCS – co-develop a single, shared infrastructure corridor comprising one railway and one port.
“I don’t accept two separate projects in Guinea,” he told the firms.
Guinea’s Minister of Mining and Geology, Bouna Sylla, explained the president’s reasoning: “Given that the two mines are neighbours in such a small country, we do not want railways running everywhere. We need just one railway and one port for the Simandou project, also addressing environmental concerns”.
Suspended early works
Soon after the coup, the then 36-year-old Doumbouya took steps to consolidate the Simandou project, reorganising it into a single national strategic asset, according to interviews with ministers and advisers.
The country is banking on iron ore revenue to boost other sectors of the economy via its Simandou 2040 plan.
Doumbouya began by meeting concession holders, including Rio Tinto’s former CEO Jakob Stausholm in December 2021 and WCS executives, to impose joint development.
When negotiations stalled, he quickly followed through on his threat by suspending all early works by WCS after the companies failed to meet his deadline to form a joint venture.
The competing groups were forced to abandon their independent plans and sign the co-development framework agreement in 2022 that led to the formation of the joint venture, the Compagnie du TransGuinéen (CTG) for Simandou railway and port infrastructure.
It was during this time that the project gained significant financial backing as Chinese capital flowed in, with Baowu Steel Group joining the consortium and injecting substantial investment into the building of key infrastructure. The entry of Chinese firms reduced the share of Rio Tinto in Simandou to about 25 per cent.
Djiba Diakite, chief of staff and director of cabinet in the president’s office as well as chairman of the Simandou Strategic Committee, said Guinea was the first official delegation to travel to China in early 2023 after the global Covid-19 crisis to discuss the resumption of the Simandou project.
“We obtained the Shanghai agreement, which allowed for the relaunch of the work that you now see in these locations, which were previously nothing but forest and mangrove,” Diakite said, referring to a breakthrough deal on the path to developing the project.
A Guinean government adviser, who asked for anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, called the Chinese capital an undisputed “game changer” that shifted the power balance.
The adviser noted that the vast financial resources and “military-like” operational discipline of Chinese investors enabled the state to pressure Western licence holders, especially Rio Tinto.
“Chinese with the money are ready to show if you are not ready.”
The adviser stressed that project success depended on this Chinese involvement and that “Baowu wielded a lot of power” in the negotiations.
‘Just slam the door’
The agreement for co-development was achieved only after intense and tough negotiations that secured the government a 15 per cent stake in each mine and a similar holding in the CTG infrastructure venture.
In one incident of high tension, a former government negotiator recalled an unusual predawn episode in 2022 when, around 4am or so and after struggling through countless days of talks, they hit a deadlock.
A senior official in government instructed the negotiator to signal the gravity of the situation to the companies by saying: “When you leave, just slam the door.”
This incident highlighted the dramatic high-stakes nature of the negotiations, reflecting the government’s strong determination to secure its interests.
For instance, recognising that Rio Tinto and WCS would arrive “lawyered up”, the Guinean government moved to match the power of the large corporations. It hired an international law firm to ensure Guinea had the expertise to protect its interests and secure legally sound and beneficial agreements.
The highly placed negotiator, who also did not want to be quoted due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the most contentious issue during negotiations was the Guinean government’s demand for a 15 per cent equity stake in the CTG, the company formed to own and operate the critical railway and port infrastructure.
“Both industrial partners didn’t want the state to have 15 per cent equity in the CTG,” the negotiator said.
Military strategy
Once the deals were signed and the companies began work in 2022, the focus immediately shifted to speed. The junta leadership imposed military-like deadlines on the industrial partners, resulting in the firms delivering the railway and port infrastructure in record time.
It was completed just a few weeks before the election set for December 28, and the incumbent president has played up the project during campaigns.
Guinea’s mining minister Sylla attributed the achievements to the president’s military background.
“I believe the military provides the best training in strategy. His vision was simply to ensure we have the best project possible,” said Sylla, who is a member of the Simandou Strategic Committee that monitors the project for the government.
Bright Simons, honorary vice-president at the Imani Africa think tank and a visiting senior fellow at ODI Global, said the junta’s success came from enforcing infrastructure alignment.
“By synchronising the multiple projects in the corridor by forcing Rio Tinto and the Chinese to align on the infrastructure, they naturally unlocked the project feasibility in a much more enhanced manner,” he said.
Simons added that this coordination, which included aligning financiers and operators, helped to “lower cost of capital and time to revenue”.
“The Chinese deep pockets and agile contracting on offtake arrangements were definitely critical in the schedule acceleration”.
However, Simons raised governance concerns, noting that “fatalities increased during the construction acceleration”, while predicting that “ramping up to 120 million tonnes per annum would take longer than the junta thinks” because of auxiliary congestion factors.
Simandou’s iron ore is vital for China’s green steel ambitions. At full capacity, the mines are expected to produce 120 million tonnes of high-grade ore with 65 per cent iron content.
Logistical challenge, not tech
Achieving this speed, however, was not a matter of new technology but of sheer will and logistics.
Jean-Baptiste Goulby is the Simandou technical manager at Egis-Setec, a consortium of engineering firms appointed by the Guinean government as advisers for the rail and port infrastructures of the Simandou project.
He said the project’s success hinged on a massive mobilisation effort rather than cutting-edge technology, and described the speed and magnitude of the construction as essentially “unmatched elsewhere”.
“It’s primarily a logistical challenge by being able to source a lot of materials, cement, steel and machinery very quickly, and to ship them to Guinea in time. That’s not technical,” Goulby said from Guinea, adding that the construction leveraged Chinese know-how.
Unlike Western contractors, which often prioritise new technology, the firms in Guinea focused on reliable construction by increasing machinery and manpower – with up to 50,000 workers employed at the peak of construction – to finish on schedule.
But the elements were beyond their control. Guinea is known for its long and heavy rainy season characterised by downpours that can last for days on end. Work on concrete had to be put on hold during the rains, which also created watercourses that degraded the ground and hampered the movement of equipment.
Additionally, the poor condition of roads severely hampered equipment transport. A single round trip from the capital Conakry to Simandou – a distance of 900km – took up to 20 days, often requiring teams to rebuild bridges.
To meet deadlines, the construction teams worked more during the dry season to secure stockpiles, allowing them to effectively withstand or take a planned break during the extended wet periods.
Tests are now being done on the railway and it is expected to be fully operational by the end of the year.
Rio Tinto’s Aitchison noted the toll, including the significant human cost, along the way.
“At Simfer, we have suffered two tragedies, unfortunately ... We use those incidents to galvanise the team to know that we can do better in this space and continue to strive to eliminate risk from our work environment,” he said.
Further fatalities were also reported at WCS sites, highlighting the ongoing and severe safety risks across the entire project. Three foreign workers, at least 13 local workers and at least five local community members were killed in various incidents in the construction of the port and railway since November 2023, according to Reuters.
