Rio Tinto finalizes Guinea JV with Chinese aluminum giant

Rio Tinto is already working on the project, which includes developing the railway, mine and port in order to ship its first cargo of the steelmaking raw ingredient by mid-2015 and increase iron ore output to 95 million metric tons a year from Simandou in the future.

Rio and Chalco hold a respective 53% and 47% interest in the JV, which translates into a 50.35% and 44.65% interest in the project. The private sector arm of the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, holds the remaining 5% of Simandou.

Guinea retains its options for participation in the project and is expected to take up its first share in the near future, Rio Tinto said.

Last year, Rio Tinto and Chinalco formed another  joint venture to explore for copper and other metals in China.

“China is a vast country rich in minerals and it has the geological pedigree to produce significant world-class deposits. Exploration work carried out over past decades is a rich source of data and experience on which to build. With Rio Tinto’s industry-leading technology and global mining experience, the exploration JV will be able to drawn on the two parties’ strengths to achieve our common goal,” said at the time Rio Tinto managing director China Ian Bauert.