Rio Tinto, Chalco ink iron ore deal with Guinea 

After a long negotiation, Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto got the nod from the Guinean government to develop the country's Simandou iron ore mine with Chinese joint venture partner Chalco.

But the deal came at a high cost. Rio Tinto will have to pay $700 million to the Guinea government and let it take up to a 35 percent stake in the Simandou project.

Heng Kung, an analyst at Anxin Securities, said the stake transfer was a compromise made by the company to sweeten the deal.

Rio Tinto once owned the exploitation rights for the Simandou project, which is considered to have the world's most promising untapped iron ore resources, until the Guinean government took rights to two parts of the deposits away in 2008. The company has tried hard to keep the other two sections of the project through talks with the government.

The stake transfer also means a change to Chalco's rights in the project. The joint venture was originally slated to take a 95 percent share in the project. Now, Chalco will have to invest a total of $1.35 billion over the next two to three years to get a 47 percent stake in the joint venture.

Rio Tinto expects the mine to start production by the end of 2014 and begin shipment by mid-2015. China will have priority to purchase the ore after the project reaches an annual output of 70 million tons.

历经多番波折之后，力拓和中国铝业计划共同投资的几内亚西芒杜铁矿项目，终于有望“黄灯”变“绿灯”。

如今，力拓的坚持终于有所收获。在记者昨天获得的声明中，力拓除了表示要向几内亚政府支付7亿美元，以获得两个地区的开采权，还将把其在西芒杜铁矿石项目中最多35%的股权逐步转予几内亚政府，以尽快推进这一项目。

安信证券分析师衡昆指出，股权转让更多的是与政府作出妥协和让步，以便顺利获得西芒杜铁矿石项目的开采权。

西芒杜铁矿山被称为全球最具潜力的未开采矿山，力拓曾一度拥有整个西芒杜地区的采矿权，不过，几内亚政府在2008年剥夺了力拓在西芒杜北部1号和2号矿区的开发权，理由是力拓开发该区块速度缓慢。此后，尽管几内亚政府还威胁过将剥夺其在西芒杜南部3号和4号矿山的采矿权，力拓一直未放弃在这一地区的拓展。

这一新的协议也意味着，中国铝业在此项目中的权益也将出现变动。因为根据双方此前的协议，由双方新成立的合资公司持有力拓所占西芒杜项目的95%股权。中国铝业将在未来2~3年内向合资公司分期投入总共13.5亿美元用于项目资本开支，最终获得合资公司47%的股权。

根据力拓的计划，希望西芒杜项目在2014年年底前投产，2015年年中前开始铁矿石发货。而西芒杜项目首期达产后，铁矿石产能预计达到7000万吨/年，并优先供应中国市场。