英国NIRON METALS公司计划开采几内亚Zogota铁矿

     据英国路透社、英国《金融时报》、《矿业新闻》（Mining.com）等多家媒体报道，总部位于英国伦敦的NIRON METALS公司计划开采几内亚佐格塔(Zogota)铁矿。

　　据报道，BSGR公司老板、以色列富商班尼·斯坦梅茨(Beny Steinmetz)2月18日与几内亚政府就几内亚西芒杜矿权法律纠纷一案达成和解协议。该和解协议为英国NIRON METALS公司开采几内亚佐格塔(Zogota)铁矿铺平了道路。

　　报道称，佐格塔铁矿(Zogota)的铁矿石计划通过铁路运输到邻国利比里亚，通过利比里亚的港口出口。

驻几内亚使馆经商处

2019年2月28日

NIRON METALS PLC

Registered office address

7th Floor 54 Jermyn Street,

London

United Kingdom,

英国《路透社》2月25日有关报道

Niron Metals to develop Guinea's Zogota iron ore deposit -BSGR

FEBRUARY 25, 2019

Reuters

https://af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFL5N20K1ZH

LONDON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Niron Metals, headed by British Conservative politician Mick Davis, will develop Guinea’s Zogota iron ore deposit, a spokesman for BSG Resources, which previously held its mining rights, said on Monday.

Output from the mine will be transported by rail and exported via a port in neighbouring Liberia, spokesman Bobby Morse said.

Guinea’s government has previously stated that ore must be exported via the West African nation’s own ports.

Reuters

英国《金融时报》2月26日有关报道

Beny Steinmetz ends iron ore dispute with Guinea

Israeli tycoon agrees to exploit new deposit with investors including former Xstrata boss Mick Davis

The lengthy dispute has weighed on Beny Steinmetz and he has been the subject of investigations in the US, Israel and Switzerland

FEBRUARY 26, 2019

Financial Times

https://www.ft.com/content/a2b3f268-38d0-11e9-b72b-2c7f526ca5d0

Israeli tycoon Beny Steinmetz has ended his bitter dispute with the government of Guinea over the rights to one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of iron ore, the key ingredient needed to make steel.

Under Monday’s agreement, Mr Steinmetz’s BSG Resources will relinquish its claims on blocks 1 and 2 of the giant Simandou project and both parties will “waive all outstanding procedures”.

As part of the deal, Guinea has asked a group of investors, including Mr Steinmetz and former Xstrata boss Mick Davis, to develop Zogota, another iron ore deposit in the west African country.

The settlement brings an end to a saga that dates back to 2008 when Lansana Conté, then leader of the African country, stripped Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto of its rights to the northern half of the Simandou deposit. Days before he died in December that year, Mr Conté granted the same rights to BSGR.

His successor, Alpha Condé, later launched an inquiry into how BSGR came to obtain the two blocks and concluded the rights had been won through bribery and cancelled its claim on Simandou and Zogota. 

BSGR has denied any wrongdoing throughout the investigation and had been fighting the decision through the international arbitration. A ruling has been pending since 2017.

The parties are delighted that this agreement opens a new chapter in their relationship that enables the development of a world-class mining project for the benefit of the people of Guinea

BSGR 

News of the deal, which was brokered by former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, stunned many observers, who expected the disagreement to be resolved by the ICSID.

“Following this agreement, BSGR relinquishes its claims on blocks 1 and 2 of Simandou and both parties waive all outstanding procedures,” BSGR said in a statement.

“At the request of the Republic of Guinea, a new group of investors (presented by and including Mr Beny Steinmetz) will exploit the Zogota deposit, in order to export iron ore, according to an accelerated timetable,” it added.

“The parties are delighted that this agreement opens a new chapter in their relationship that enables the development of a world-class mining project for the benefit of the people of Guinea.”

Although Guinea has vast untapped reserves of iron ore it has yet to export a single tonne of the steelmaking ingredient and Simandou has been a source of woe for nearly every company that has tried to develop the project.

While Simandou rivals the huge high-grade deposits of northern Brazil, analysts say it would cost at least $20bn to develop the reserves because of the need to build a 650km trans-Guinean railway line and a port. 

Although shorter routes to market are available through neighbouring countries, poverty-stricken Guinea has opposed any changes to the terms of the project, making it unviable even for a state-backed Chinese company such as Chinalco. 

In October, Chinalco abandoned a deal to buy blocks 3 and 4 of Simandou from Rio, which is itself facing an investigation in the UK and Australia into a payment it made to a French consultant who helped the company secure its rights over half the project.

Zogota is a much smaller project — its annual production would be about 2m tonnes a year — and its iron ore would be exported via a shorter and cheaper route through Liberia, said people familiar with the development plans.

Niron Metals, a company recently established by Mr Davis, said it believed the Zogota deposit could be brought into production on an accelerated timetable.

“The announcement [made by BSGR] has paved the way for the creation of an effective mining partnership between Niron and the government to mine this deposit,” it said in a statement. “The company looks forward to bringing this to fruition subject to the satisfactory settlement of all disputes between the parties.”

Mr Davis, chief executive and co-treasurer of the ruling UK Conservative party, was among the biggest names in the mining industry during the commodities boom of the 2000s, building Xstrata into one of the sector’s leading forces before its sale to Glencore in 2013.

He went on to set up an acquisition vehicle called X2 Resources. However, it failed to pull off any deals amid a brutal downturn in commodity prices. Mr Davis also came close to being appointed chairman of Rio before a shareholder revolt put paid to his chances. 

Mr Steinmetz, meanwhile, built his family diamond business into a leading supplier to Tiffany’s, before branching out into base metals as Chinese demand drove up prices.

But the long-running dispute with Conakry has weighed on him, and he has been the subject of investigations in the US, Switzerland and Israel.

Last year, the mining arm of BSGR was placed into administration in the face of legal battles stemming from the dispute with Guinea. It is still facing an arbitration claim from Brazilian miner Vale, which agreed a $2.5bn deal to buy a 51 per cent stake in BSGR’s Guinean assets before the rights were cancelled. Vale says its losses run to $1.1bn.

Mining.com有关报道

Former Xstrata boss Mick Davis to mine Guinea's Zogota iron ore deposit

Mining.com

For Mik Davis, Zogata offers an opportunity to relaunch his mining career that started in his native South Africa.

Niron Metals, headed by the former boss of Xstrata Mick Davis, will develop Guinea's Zogota iron ore deposit, previously owned by BSG Resources (BSGR).

The news, confirmed via an emailed statement, follows an agreement between Israeli tycoon Beny Steinmetz, BSGR’s owner, and the government of Guinea over the rights to Simandou, one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of iron ore.

“[BSGR’s deal] has paved the way for the creation of an effective mining partnership between Niron and the Government to mine this deposit,” it said, “The company looks forward to bringing this to fruition subject to the satisfactory settlement of all disputes between the parties.”

As part of that settlement, BSGR has relinquished its claims on blocks 1 and 2 of Simandou, whose development has been hindered by years of legal wrangling as well as the $23 billion cost of the required infrastructure.

The Zogata project is expected to produce around 2 million tonnes of iron ore a year.

Rio Tinto (ASX, LON:RIO), the world’s second largest iron ore producer, still holds a 45.05% stake in Simandou's remaining blocks 3 and 4.

“At the request of the Republic of Guinea, a new group of investors (presented by and including Steinmetz) will exploit the Zogata deposit, in order to export iron ore, according to an accelerated timetable,” a statement quoted by Financial Times reads.

The Zogata project is expected to produce around 2 million tonnes of iron ore a year, which will be transported by rail and exported via a port in neighbouring Liberia.

Guinea's government had previously stated that ore had to exported via the West African nation's own ports.

Davis is well known in the mining industry. He led Xstrata from a $500 million business in the early part of the last decade to an operation so big that — at one point — it made a takeover offer for Anglo American (LON:AAL).

His latest venture, mining fund X2 Resources, ended up losing its backers as it was unable to score any deals in the three years since launch.

Miningmx.com2月25日报道

Davis at centre of Zogota iron ore project as Steinmetz and Guinea end 7-year feud

February 25, 2019

Miningmx.com

BENY Steinmetz is to make a remarkable come-back to Guinea’s iron ore industry following a settlement brokered by former French president, Nikolas Sarkozy in which BSGR – the company to which Steinmetz is a consultant – will drop all claims over the Simandou and Zogota iron ore prospects.

In an article published by Bloomberg News, the agreement also marks the return of another famous mining entrepreneur, Mick Davis. Operating through his recently formed company, Niron Metals, Davis will develop the Zogota prospect once the disputes between the parties are concluded, the newswire said.

The terms of the settlement is that BSGR and the Guinean government will drop a seven-year arbitration over BSGR’s stake in Simandou, and Zogota. BSGR and its employees will also be cleared of corruption charges levelled by Guinea, led by president Alpha Conde.

BSGR, however, will retain an economic interest in Zogota – the smaller of the two iron ore deposits in Guinea – which will then be developed by Niron Metals. Davis went public with Niron Metals in January. It has former head of sales for De Beers, Varda Shine and Marcos Camhis, founder of Fos Asset Management as partners.

Speaking to Bloomberg News, Steinmetz said: “We were enemies. Now we are friends and partners with the Guinean government. We have both put aside the past and BSGR and its employees and advisers have been vindicated”.

“Guinea wants to work and they see us as the pioneers of the iron ore situation, because nobody else has picked it up. Production and export of iron ore will be expedited and this is a win-win situation for everyone.”

Sarkozy, who was in office between 2007 and 2012 and is head of France’s Republican party, had a relationship with both sides and was able to broker the deal, said Bloomberg News citing a person with knowledge of his role.

Steinmetz told the newswire that Zogota would be developed “very fast”. Davis will develop Zogota in partnership with the Guinea government.