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.