Simandou to mine first cargo by end of 2025

China’s biggest listed steelmaker, Baoshan Iron & Steel, expects the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea to complete infrastructure construction and mine its first cargo by the end of 2025, the company said on Wednesday.

With annual production capacity of 120 million metric tons, the project in the African nation’s southeast is set to be the world’s largest mine for the highest grade of iron ore, key to the green transition in the global steel value chain.

Simandou has four mining blocks with two in the northern region developed by a consortium of Singapore-based Winning International Group, Weiqiao Aluminium, which is part of China Hongqiao Group, and United Mining Suppliers.

Baowu has become a key shareholder after completion of the transfer in June of shareholding rights by Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS), as it is known.

“Because Simandou is rich in high grade-resources with favourable mining conditions, production cost will be relatively competitive,” the company said in a briefing on its third-quarter result.

The company hopes to optimize its ore blending structure after Simandou starts production, it added.

Baosteel is a unit of state-owned China Baowu Steel Group, the world’s largest steelmaker by output.

The company also said the building for its zero-carbon plant, with an investment of 4.5 billion yuan ($631 million) and powered by green hydrogen and green electricity in Zhanjiang in the southern province of Guangdong, will be completed in 2025.

On Tuesday, Baosteel reported a plunge of nearly 65% in its third-quarter net profit, undermined by a fall in steel prices.

Its export orders in the first three quarters hit a record high of 4.66 million tons, well on track for its 2024 target of 6 million tons.

($1=7.1360 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(By Amy Lv and Farah Master; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Clarence Fernandez)