New railway lines put Guinea and Algeria on track to send iron ore to China

China is poised to begin receiving iron ore shipments from Guinea and Algeria this year, as Chinese firms complete the railway lines and ports needed to overcome logistical bottlenecks.

For years, the lack of railway infrastructure connecting mine sites to port facilities had stymied iron ore exports from both nations.

These massive projects are strategically important to China as it tries to diversify its supply of iron ore away from Australia and Brazil, which together account for about 80 per cent of seaborne exports.

Simandou, in the remote southeast of Guinea, is one example. It is said to have the world’s largest undeveloped iron ore deposit, and to get that moving a new railway line stretching up to 650km (400 miles) to the Atlantic coast was needed.

Likewise, in Algeria, there is another significant iron ore deposit at the Gara Djebilet mine deep in the southwestern Sahara Desert, near the Mauritanian border. That is about 1,650km away from Mediterranean ports – a distance that will be bridged by a combination of new and upgraded railway lines.

In the remote southeast of Guinea, Simandou is said to have the world’s largest undeveloped iron ore deposit. Photo: Rio Tinto

In Guinea, Simandou is now on track to start shipping iron ore from November, according to Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian mining giant jointly developing the project with Chinese companies.

South China Morning Post