Guinea's Nimba iron ore project gets green light to export via Liberia

Falcon Energy Materials

11/10/2019 18:19

CONAKRY, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Guinea and Liberia signed a deal
on Friday to allow several mines in Guinea, including the giant
Nimba iron ore project, to export through Liberia, officials
from the two West African countries said.
    The logistics of transporting tonnes of raw materials to
port from mining sites in remote parts of Guinea has been a
major hurdle for prospective developers of the country's vast
mineral wealth.   
    Friday's agreement, which builds on an initial memorandum of
understanding signed six years ago, is a victory for
American-Canadian investor Robert Friedland's HPX, which last
month acquired Nimba, a high-grade deposit in Guinea's
south-east. 
    "The mining projects in question are near the border with
Liberia and cannot be profitable if they export through Guinea's
coast," Guinea's mines minister Abdoulaye Magassouba told
Reuters. 
    A graphite project owned by SRG Mining  SRG.V  and a Zali
Mining project would also be able to export through Liberia
under the deal, Magassouba said. 
    Zogota, a nearby iron ore deposit owned by former Xstrata
boss Mick Davis' Niron Metals, had already negotiated an
agreement to export through Liberia.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2202VS
    But both Nimba and Zogota still need to reach an agreement
with Germany's ArcelorMittal  MT.AS , the sole rail concession
holder in Liberia, to convince it to allow them to use its
infrastructure.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N22P6HT
    ArcelorMittal  MT.AS  declined an immediate comment when
contacted by Reuters.     
    Exporting through Liberia is not an option, however, for the
much larger Simandou iron ore project, which Fortescue  FMG.AX 
and SMB-Winning have bid for.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N26P4VZ
    Guinea's government says the eventual owner of Simandou must
build a 650-kilometre railway - the "Transguineen" - to
transport iron ore to the Guinean coast for export. 

 (Reporting by Saliou Samb, Writing by Helen Reid, Editing by
Aaron Ross and Deepa Babington)
 ((Helen.Reid@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 0402;))