In the shadow of the Simandou mountains, where ancient ridges cradle the earth’s crimson secrets, a symphony of steel and ambition is unfolding.
On a day when rain clouds gathered, Mamady Doumbouya, president of Guinea-Conakry, stood by the quays of Morebaya Port, flanked by executives from Rio Tinto and China Baowu Steel.
Some 60 years after iron ore deposits were first discovered, the $20bn (R342.21bn) Simandou project surged to life, pulsing with the potential to elevate Guinea from the fringes of global commerce to the fore of Africa’s industrial renaissance.
Beneath the mountains in the southeast of the West African nation lies one of the world’s largest deposits of high-grade iron ore — 4.4-billion tons — at 65% iron purity. Iron ore is used in the production of steel, a metal widely used for construction, infrastructure, vehicle manufacturing, and a vast range of other products.
Exploration by Australian mining giant Rio Tinto began in 1997, but development of Simandou languished amid corruption scandals; pauses by successive military juntas; and a 2022 development freeze imposed by Guinea’s transitional government.
Now finally in operation, the project is owned by a consortium that includes the Guinea government — which holds 15% through state-owned Compagnie du TransGuinéen (CTG) — with plans to reach 100% shareholding in the longer term. Alongside the state, Simfer Infraco Guinée (Rio Tinto & Chinalco) and WCS Infraco (WCS Holding & Baowu) each hold 42.5% of the joint venture. CTG owns all the infrastructure, including the railroad and the ports.
.Now we have the Trans-Guinean, not only in the service of the Simandou project but also it can be used by other people. According to the agreement we signed, it’s for multi-use. Today we’re happy the two mining projects will use one line, and the two companies will have 120-million tons a year. The railroad can do 160-million tons, giving us an extra 40-million tons capacity
— Mamadou Nagnalen Barry, CGT chair
An ambitious mission to haul 120-million tons of iron ore and bauxite annually is supported by the Trans-Guinean Railway — a 650km double-tracked line stretching from the Simandou forests, over 21 arched bridges, to the deep-water Morebaya port in Forécariah, about two hours from the capital Conakry — to load onto vessels destined mainly for China.
Built by the China Railway Engineering Group and affiliates, using 10,000 workers at its peak, the line has been constructed for multipurpose use, said Mamadou Nagnalen Barry, chairperson of CGT. “Now we have the Trans-Guinean, not only in the service of the Simandou project but also it can be used by other people,” he said.
“According to the agreement we signed, it’s for multi-use. Today we’re happy the two mining projects will use one line, and the two companies will have 120-million tons a year. The railroad can do 160-million tons, giving us an extra 40-million tons capacity.”
The railway line criss-crosses nine cities, from Beyla, in the Nzérékoré region of southeastern Guinea, to the Morebaya Port, a $4bn (R68.44bn) harbour on the Atlantic Ocean. It is a jewel in the country’s crown, a symbol of pride that the government boasts has the capacity to process and export 120-million tons of ore, making it the biggest mining port on the continent.
Once a sleepy outpost, it now boasts twin berths capable of docking Capesize vessels, with barge terminals and transshipment vessels working in concert.
Heavy machinery unloaded the inaugural shipment onto a waiting bulk carrier bound for distant shores.
At the peak of construction of the port and railway, 50,000 workers were put to service. About 30,000 are expected to be employed in the operational phase.
The Guinean government has staked the equivalent of the country’s entire GDP on long-term returns from the Simandou project, with the $20bn financed by a mix of stakeholders, including:
- loans from China Development Bank;
- bonds raised by China’s Baowu Steel Group;
- other facilities from the International Finance Corporation (IFC); and
- money from leading commercial banks such as BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered.
“When we started this project, the capex was equal to the GDP of the country. That is a lot of money. You wanted to absorb your GDP in three years; no one would have believed it. This is what’s impressive with the project because it happened,” Barry said.
The International Monetary Fund forecasts a 26% GDP surge within five years, propelled by $7.6bn (R130.04bn) in annual economic injections — dwarfing aid inflows.
So intense was the construction phase that the project would at times gobble up all the available cement in the West African country. “It was quite challenging because we tried to support local producers of cement, but sometimes there was no cement for other construction projects because Simandou had bought all the cement in the country. We had challenges like that,” Barry said.
Guinea, a nation of 14-million people — and where 52% languish in poverty — has long been a paradox: resource-rich yet revenue-poor, its bauxite and gold fuelling foreign coffers while Conakry’s streets overflow with desperate locals trying to eke out a day’s living. However, income per capita has steadily been rising, moving the country into low-middle income status.
“We aim to prove that the ‘resource curse’ is not inevitable,” said Djiba Diakite, minister and chief of staff to the president and chairperson of the Simandou 2040 strategic committee, speaking at the inauguration ceremony. “The infrastructure is not only for mining. The railway line is also expected to open corridors for agriculture and other resource sectors such as transport and trade, lowering costs and raising incomes in the regions it traverses, which widens the effect beyond ore alone.”
Iron ore deposits at Simandou were first discovered in the late 1950s when Guinea was still under French colonial rule. But actual mining operations only began in 2024.
Barry expressed a sense of deep relief that a 60-year promise to the people can finally be delivered on: “Simandou has been promised to Guineans for six decades, but it never came. Telling them you are doing it will not mean anything to Guineans; they want to see it. We were not credible by saying we are going to do this because they don’t believe anyone. They have heard that for 60 years.”
