https://www.miningweekly.com

Guinea blames Rio Tinto’s ‘rambling’ London team for mine delay

17th August 2016

By: Bloomberg

  

Font size: - +

CONAKRY – Guinea’s mineral management company said Rio Tinto Group overstated the Ebola virus’s effect on developing the world’s biggest iron-ore deposit and delayed its plans for the mine to focus on operations in Australia amid a rout in prices for the steelmaking material.

“The real causes of the delay aren’t so much Ebola as they are the ramblings of the technical team in London,” Societe Guineenne du Patrimoine Minier said in its 2015 annual report. “Simfer overstated the effect of Ebola, unlike other mining companies that were able to better manage the epidemic, ” it said, referring to the concession license-holding company in which Rio Tinto has a 47% stake.

Rio declined to comment. In a February 2015 statement, it reaffirmed its support to Guinea following the Ebola outbreak and said it’s making good progress on Simandou.

Guinea was among three West African countries hardest hit by the worst outbreak of Ebola yet, with more than 11 000 people dying since the first victim was identified in the region in 2013.

Rio CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques said Aug. 3 “there is no obvious way to take Simandou to the next phase,” and that the company hasn’t been able to find a way to finance it, as iron-ore prices remain about 70% off their 2011 peak. The nation is counting on the project to double the size of its $6.5-billion economy and turn it into the third-biggest exporter of the material.

Edited by Bloomberg

Comments

Showroom

Rittal
Rittal

Rittal is a world leading provider of top-quality integrated systems for enclosures, power distribution, climate control, IT infrastructure and...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Showroom image
Alcohol Breathalysers

Supplier & Distributor of the Widest Range of Accurate & Easy-to-Use Alcohol Breathalysers

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
27th March 2024
Resources Watch
Resources Watch
27th March 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.172 0.204s - 106pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now