Australia: Simandou on track for first ore shipment in Nov’25, Rio Tinto JV confirms

• Shipments of 0.5-1 mnt expected from SimFer this year
• Project on track to reach 60 mtpa capacity in 30 months

Mysteel Global: The first shipment from the Simandou project, the world’s largest untapped deposit of high-grade iron ore located in Guinea, West Africa, is expected in November this year as scheduled, unaffected by the previous fatal accident, according to the latest news release of SimFer.

SimFer, the joint venture between the Government of the Republic of Guinea, Rio Tinto, and the Chalco Iron Ore Holdings – a Chinalco-led joint venture of leading Chinese SOEs, including Baowu – held the mining concession for blocks 3 and 4 in the south of the Simandou project.

The JV highlighted the advancements made on the Simandou project over the third quarter of this year despite a particularly challenging rainy season, including the completion of a 72-kilometre track for the rail spur, rapid progress in civil engineering work at the port, and ongoing development of infrastructure.

The first iron ore shipment from Simandou had accelerated to November this year, as Rio Tinto stated in its second quarterly report released in July, expecting 0.5-1 million tonnes (mnt) of shipments from SimFer within the year.

However, a worker fatality at the SimFer mine site in August raised concerns about whether the schedule would be affected. Late last month, all activity at the SimFer mine site was suspended following the death of an employee from a contracting company. The latest update from SimFer now erases doubts about the progress of the Simandou project, and the mine is on track to ramp up to a full capacity of 60 mnt/year within 30 months as planned after the first shipment is made in November, the release noted.

Iron ore from the SimFer mine will initially be shipped through Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS) Port while construction of the SimFer port is finalised, SimFer said. WCS owns blocks 1 and 2 in the north of the Simandou project, with a designed capacity of 60 mnt/y, Mysteel Global learns.

Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.