LONDON, Feb 15 (Reuters) – A contract worker died following an incident at Rio Tinto’s SimFer mine, part of Guinea’s Simandou iron ore project, the world’s largest producer of iron ore said on Sunday without providing further details.
The death is the latest in a series of fatal incidents linked to the construction of the mines, port and 670-km (416-mile) railway connecting the remote mining region to the Guinean coast.
Operations at the SimFer mine site were suspended following Saturday’s accident, the Anglo-Australian miner said, while its chief executive, Simon Trott, said he would travel to Guinea this week.
‘DETERMINED TO LEARN FROM THE INCIDENT’
“We are determined to learn from this incident and to do everything we can to provide the safest possible workplace and prevent tragedies like this from happening,” Trott said in a statement.
A Reuters review of internal documents in March found that at least 13 local workers had died between November 2023 and late 2024 during construction work of the infrastructure, including one death reported by Rio Tinto.
The company has confirmed two more deaths since, including that on Saturday.
In October, co-developer Winning Consortium Simandou said three foreign workers were killed in a separate site accident.
DEATH TOLL MOUNTS TO AT LEAST 18
That takes the death toll to at least 18 workers since construction of the railway and mines started.
Simandou is largely a Chinese-backed venture: China Baowu Resources holds a controlling stake in the northern half of the deposit, Blocks 1 and 2, through its majority share in the Winning Consortium Simandou.
The southern half, Blocks 3 and 4, is held in partnership by Rio Tinto, Chinalco and the government of Guinea, putting roughly 75% of the project under Chinese influence and about 25% under Rio’s direct interest.
(Reporting by Clara Denina, Ruchika Khanna; Editing by Susan Fenton and Matthew Lewis)
