Photo by: Bloomberg
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Cape Lambert Resources on Thursday noted that mining giant Rio Tinto’s development of the $20-billion Simandou iron-ore project, in Guinea, could offer an infrastructure solution for its own Sandenia project.
Rio and its partners Chinalco and the International Finance Corporation last month signed a deal with the Guinea government setting out conditions for an infrastructure investment to revive the Simandou project.
The agreement would allow the partners to prepare a feasibility study on the infrastructure requirements, which would likely include a 650 km railway and a deep-water port at Morebaya.
Cape Lambert executive chairperson Tony Sage said on Thursday that the agreement demonstrated both Rio’s and the Guinean government’s substantial commitment to developing the nation’s mineral deposits.
“This situation bodes well for the Sandenia iron-ore project and provides a potential transport solution for the export of iron-ore from the project, once it is developed,” Sage said.
The Sandenia project is an at early-stage exploration and includes five identified targets prospective for enriched oxide. An exploration target of between 1.2-billion and 2-billion tonnes has been established, at a grade of between 25% and 35% iron.
The project covers some 298 km2 and lies 290 km east of the Guinean capital Conakry. The proposed trans-Guinean multi-user railway would run directly through the Sandenia permit.