The transitional authorities in Guinea announced last week the cessation of all mining activities at the Simandou iron deposit, one of the largest iron deposits in the world located in the south-east of the country.
The decision was taken during a Council of Ministers held on Thursday March 10. The press release published after the meeting states that “the president of the transition recalled that he had requested the implementation of the exploitation of the Simandou deposit taking into account the interests of Guinea.
Unfortunately, to date, despite his request, which dates from December 2021, there has been no progress. « He therefore instructed the cessation of all activity on the ground pending the answers to the questions posed to the various actors and the clarification of the operating mode in which the interests of Guinea will be preserved ».
The active Simandou blocks have been awarded to foreign companies; the Guinean State is weakly represented there.
First of all, Conakry’s decision to suspend these activities seems to contradict the assurances that the military junta had given, just after the coup that overthrew the Alpha Condé regime, to foreign partners as to the agreements made.
But Prime Minister Mohamed Béavogui assured Saturday that there is no question of renegotiating the agreements. « It’s not a renegotiation, it’s just a reorganization of the way of working (…). Guinea does not want to review the contracts, nor the conventions, Guinea wants a real co-development of this project (…) for the good of all the partners, but especially for Guinea”, he indicated to the national television.
Recall that Simandou is the “biggest mining project of the next 30 years in the world”, the head of government estimated that it “cannot be done without Guinea”. « We just want to take a little break, agree on a number of things, » Béavogui insisted.
Several observers believe that these Guinean resources are of little benefit to the country itself.
And for the new authorities, this situation can no longer continue, there is reason to have a say in the exploitation of this immense iron deposit.
By OMA Newsletter N° 626 of 14/03/2022
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