"Today marks the most important date in the development of the Simandou project," WCS representative Robin Lu said after the signing ceremony, which was broadcast on state television late on Sunday. The Simandou project has been haggled over for years, its exploitation delayed by legal wrangling and the difficulty and cost of building infrastructure. Rio Tinto representative Lawrence Dechambenoit said the Simandou project had never come so close to fruition. Under the CTG, Rio Tinto subsidiary Simfer, which Chinalco and Baowu also hold shares in, is expected to finance half the project, which has an estimated cost of between $15 billion and $20 billion. WCS will cover the other half. Simfer S.A., which is owned by the government of Guinea (15%) and Simfer Jersey Limited (85%), itself a joint venture between Rio (53%) and Chalco Iron Ore Holdings (CIOH) (47%.
CIOH is held 75% by Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco) and 20% by Baowu, with China Rail Construction Corporation and China Harbour Engineering Company each holding 2.5%.
Baowu's representative in Conakry, Jiang Gongyang, said the
CTG was "an important step for the Simandou project".
The minister in charge of the presidency's cabinet, Djiba
Diakite, said he was confident different viewpoints would
converge and called on all the industrial partners to take
necessary steps to ensure work resumes this month as planned.
(Reporting by Saliou Samb;
Writing by Anait Miridzhanian and Sofia Christensen; editing by
Barbara Lewis)
