The long-awaited Simandou iron ore mine in Guinea — backed by major Chinese investors — is finally moving into production, a development poised to reshape global iron ore trade flows.
Valued at $23 billion, Simandou is the world’s largest untapped iron ore deposit, holding an estimated 3 billion mt of high-grade ore exceeding 65% Fe content.
The project is split between Rio Tinto and Chinalco on one side and Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS) — a Chinese-Singaporean joint venture — on the other. Once fully operational, total output could reach 120 million mt annually, or around 5% of global supply.
For China, Simandou represents a strategic move to reduce dependence on Australian and Brazilian suppliers, strengthening its pricing influence in the seaborne iron ore market.
Meanwhile, for Guinea, the mine could be transformational, with the government expecting it to boost GDP by over 25% by 2030. The project’s massive infrastructure — including a deep-water port, 300 bridges, and 140 locomotives — is set to integrate remote regions and support the nation’s Simandou 2040 development roadmap.
VietnamSteel by Hoa Sen Group
