Rio Tinto in Talks With Guinea Junta in Bid to Overturn Halt of Simandou Iron-Ore Project
18 March 2022 - 2:11AM
Dow Jones News
By Emmanuel Tumanjong
Special to Dow Jones Newswires
A Rio Tinto PLC executive has said the company is in talks with
the military junta of Guinea regarding the West African nation's
halting of work on the huge iron-ore deposits of Simandou.
"We're in discussion with the government of Guinea and support
their view that co-investment and development of rail and port
infrastructure is the best way to develop Simandou projects," Bold
Baatar, Rio Tinto's director of copper told reporters
Wednesday.
He arrived the Guinean capital Conakry on Tuesday night to hold
talks with the country's military junta, whose leader Colonel
Mamady Doumbouya had ordered last week that work on the Simandou
iron-ore project be halted.
Col. Doumbouya had ordered at a government cabinet meeting last
week that work on the project be halted for the sake of "the
interests of Guinea" and that there had been no progress on the
matter.
Rio Tinto, Chinese-backed Boke Mining Co., Aluminum Corp. of
China Ltd., and the government of Guinea all have interests in the
iron-ore and bauxite deposit.
Mr. Baatar said Rio Tinto aims to "work with the [Guinea]
government and all other partners to create the appropriate
structure to advance the Simandou project for Guinea and all
stakeholders."
Write to Barcelona Editors at barcelonaeditors@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 17, 2022 10:56 ET (14:56 GMT)
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