Rio Spends $700 Million at Simandou Iron Ore Project

Rio Tinto Group, the world’s second-largest mining company, said it has spent $700 million to date at the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea.

“Our current plans for the mine, railway and port calls for the creation of tens of thousands of jobs during the construction phase and more than 4,000 full-time jobs once operational,” Tom Albanese, chief executive of the London-based company, also said today in e-mailed comments.

Rio is studying spending at least $6 billion in Guinea, where new President Alpha Conde has ordered a drafting policy giving the country at least a one-third stake in mining projects. The company said in July it had invested $650 million at Simandou and planned to begin mining within five years.

Rio is “very pleased” with the contribution that Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. has made to the project, Albanese said. Rio has agreed to sell Chinalco, as the state-owned company is known, a 44.65 percent stake in Simandou. (Bloombeg)