Railway construction and tunneling works have commenced around the Simandou iron ore project in the southeast of Guinea, a mine in west Africa which is set to reshape global iron ore trading patterns.

A 650 km railway line and a deepwater port at Matakong on the Atlantic coast will be constructed, aiming to bring the blocks 1 and 2 in the northern area of Simandou into production by 2025. The railway will cross the Madina-Oula subprefecture through a 11.7 km tunnel under a mountain. A second tunnel, with a total length of 9 km, will also be built in the subprefecture of Ouré-Kaba in the prefecture of Mamou.

According to the Guinean Ministry of Mines, the tunnels will take three years to build, between June 1 2021 and January 2024.

Simandou deposits have been estimated at 2.4bn tonnes of high-grade ore, with much of it earmarked for Chinese consumption.

Source: Splash