Rio ushers in 60Mt iron ore behemoth16 Jan 2025 06:27
Rio Tinto and its partners will soon commence production from Simandou, one of the world’s largest and highest-grade iron ore mines.
In releasing its fourth quarter results, where the company announced a leisurely three per cent uptick in quarter-on-quarter Pilbara iron ore production, Rio provided an update on its Simfer mine, which forms part of the Simandou iron ore operation in Guinea.
Simfer, Rio said, is on track to achieve first production in 2025, ramping up to a 60-million-tonne-per-annum production capacity across two-and-a-half years.
The two initial Simfer crushers have been commissioned, with first ore crushed on January 1.
Simandou will see a 620km TransGuinean railway constructed to connect the mining operations with a port at Matakong near the Sierra Leone border.
Rio said 8.5km of rail had been installed and the 275m Milo River bridge completed, while tunnel excavation activity across Simfer’s scope is 75 per cent complete.
“During the fourth quarter, all construction milestones for the period stipulated by the Government of Guinea were achieved for the Simfer infrastructure scope,” Rio said.
The scale of Simfer, and Simandou more broadly, is not the only intriguing consideration for the global iron ore industry, but also Simandou’s high-grade of 65.3 per cent iron (Fe).
he grade of Rio’s Pilbara Blend, by contrast, is 62 per cent Fe, and production of this material is decreasing as Rio’s Western Australian iron ore mines face depletion. This is being supplanted by a lower-grade SP10 iron ore.
The higher the iron ore grade the better it is for sustainable steelmaking, highlighting the importance of Simandou in a future steel industry.
It could also imperil Rio’s Pilbara operations given their lower grade, something Rio is not lost on, with the company recently launching an iron ore review.
“Our portfolio is changing,” Trott told reporters at a Melbourne Mining Club luncheon. “We’re already taking material from the Pilbara, IOC (Rio’s Canadian iron ore operation) and third parties, and with Simandou coming on it gives us another value to the portfolio.
https://www.australianresourcesandinvestment.com.au/2025/01/16/rio-ushers-in-60mt-iron-ore-behemoth/
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