Beny Steinmetz is now convinced that the Brazilian mining group Vale had doubts about the conditions under which Blocks 1 and 2 of the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea were awarded to his family business, Beny Steinmetz Group Resources (BSGR). According to the businessman, these suspicions were confirmed to Vale by Australian giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. Still according to Steinmetz, the management of the Brazilian company also knew that the granting of BSGR's permit had not, as required by law, been approved by Guinea's Parliament. It was despite allegedly being aware of the risks involved that Vale decided to form a joint venture with BSGR in order to obtain an interest in the vast Simandou deposit and gain a stronger foothold in Africa, as sought by Brazil's president at the time, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. As far as Steinmetz is concerned, Vale cannot now seek compensation over the 2014 decision by the Guinean government to withdraw the joint venture's licence on the ground that the rights to Simandou and another concession had been obtained through bribery.
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