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After the 7 billion dollars amassed in the United Arab Emirates, another promising news and this time we are speaking about 15 billion dollars. This is what foreign partners – China in particular – will spend to exploit the Simandou iron ore deposit by the end of 2025. There is talk of developing port and rail infrastructure around this mega project, one of the biggest iron deposits in the world.
The Chinese ogre is everywhere, it swallows everything…
The deal, initiated in 2022, was formalized on April 8, 2024, by the Guinean administration. On the schedule is a railway of more than 600 km and a port on the Atlantic to export the precious ore. “Simandou is no longer a dream, but a truth[…]. There is no doubt today that the project will be delivered under the timetable by the end of 2025,” announced Djiba Diakité, chief of staff of the Presidency of the Republic and head of the project monitoring committee.
According to a press release posted on the social networks of the Guinean Presidency, the documents were inked on April 2, 2024, after the approval of the diverse partners, in particular China and the green light from the Transitional Parliament in Guinea.
Remark that the four blocks of the Simandou deposit are shared equally between two joint ventures led respectively by Rio Tinto and Winning Consortium Simandou. These joint ventures each possess 42.5% of Compagnie du Transguinéen, a company committed to the operation of railway and port infrastructure and 15% controlled by the Guinean government…
“So little” for the Guinean State and individuals is a complete scandal. African nations continue to be looted. But what do you want, the one who pays orders and collects? As long as Africans do not own the means and the will to fund their infrastructure to exploit their natural resources, this will be the case. The same evil strikes a significant gold producer, Burkina Faso, even if the military junta is trying to correct the situation.
The DRC and Senegal are also fighting but…
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) we are also attempting to rebalance the balance so that at least the country’s children benefit more from their wealth, but all this is extremely sluggish and falls far short of what needs to be done so that the Africans are offering themselves the development they merit and that their wealth easily allows.
Remark that the Simandou deposit contains several billion tonnes of high-grade mineral resources. The entry into production of this behemoth should raise the share of the mining sector in the country’s GDP. But, Guinea, one of the heavyweights in mining in Africa (2nd largest producer of bauxite in the world and a major producer of gold), deserves better than these “crumbs”. But it is up to Guineans to guarantee that justice is done to them, no one will do it for them.
From this point of view, Senegal is better off, but its new president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, has vowed to go even further (he does not rule out renegotiating all oil and gas contracts) so that the country benefits more from the fruits from its basement. We will see what Faye will be capable of doing to give substance to her commitment, which is much easier said than kept…
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