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.
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 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.
