Progress at last on Tonkolili

摘要

After two years of talks, Chinese firm Shandong Iron & Steel Group (SISG) has finally taken a 25% stake in the Tonkolili iron ore project in Sierra Leone at a cost of $1.5B. The company will buy 2 mtpa increasing to 10 mtpa at a slightly discounted rate, and will also take a 25% stake in the project's port and railway subsidiaries. Production will start off at 20 mtpa but will be ramped up to 50 mtpa as a result of the Chinese investment. First iron ore was shipped from the project in November, the first from Sierra Leone in 30 years, and African Minerals says that existing rail and port operations are "comfortably achieving" 8 mtpa.