Rio Tinto chief executive officer Jakob Stausholm has indicated the Simandou project in Guinea might not be such a big threat to Western Australia’s iron ore industry after all.
Rio Tinto chief executive officer Jakob Stausholm has indicated the Simandou project in Guinea might not be such a big threat to Western Australia’s iron ore industry after all.
Mr Stausholm and Rio Tinto’s chairman Dominic Barton were in town for the miner’s second AGM of the year, held at Perth’s Convention and Exhibition Centre this morning.
The event drew a modest group of protestors who were stationed outside the venue, albeit fewer than those present at Woodside Energy’s AGM, also at PCEC, last week.
Fielding a range of questions following the meeting, Mr Stausholm gave media an update on Rio’s Simandou project in Guinea, widely considered one of the largest untapped iron ore resources globally.
There is much speculation as to how Simandou could affect WA’s biggest export, if and when it comes online.
However, there was little indication from Rio’s chief executive that the long-stalled project would pose any imminent risk to its Pilbara operations.
“I feel quite comfortable on that front,” Mr Stausholm said.
“It provides optionality for us as well because it gives us the opportunity to blend also with qualities here from Australia, so I feel that it actually puts us in a better position with our Pilbara business.
“The size of Simandou, we haven’t disclosed that exactly but there are limitations ... on how big this can be.”
He said Rio had solved most of the big issues it needed to with the Guinean government but that matters of cost and schedule for Simandou still needed to be finalised.
“We’re certainly not prepared to sign up to a schedule that we can’t deliver on, but it’s really down to relatively few things and of course, the Chinese partners have to go through their own approval process before full funding can happen,” Mr Stausholm said.
"There is progress. We are mobilising, we’re hiring local people, educating, training them, so things are progressing.
"We’re just not going at full steam right now."
Rio Tinto has a stake in Simandou via a joint venture with Chalco Iron Ore with the Guinean government owning a 15 per cent stake.
In July 2022, Rio Tinto, Winning International Group and the Guinean government established a new incorporated entity, The TransGuinean Company, to commence building infrastructure for the operation.
At the time, Rio said the new company would be the central structure in developing infrastructure for the mine, which will require more than 600 kilometres of rail spanning from the south to the south west of Guinea and port components.
