import 50% of its iron-ore from Chinese owned mines elsewhere in the world.” China’s boom continues, apparently impervious to gloomy warnings from some quarters that its economic growth is slowing. “Like so many commodities today, the development of iron-ore in West Africa is a China story,” Welborn told IRJ. “Chinese steel mills are desperately seeking new sources of supply to diversify their reliance on the Big 3 [Rio Tinto, BHP and Vale].” Much of this ore will come from West Africa. New mines have opened in
IRJ January 2013
Liberia and Sierra Leone, countries previously more famous for vicious civil wars than mining, new mines are being developed in Congo, and extraction of a vast iron-ore deposit - possibly the world’s largest - is imminent in Guinea. In each of the new projects, the miners have either rebuilt a railway to carry ore to the coast, or have plans to build new lines, sparking a railway boom on a scale not seen in Africa since the colonial era. The difference this time is that governments are demanding a
slice of the action, while the miners have had to satisfy shareholders that the projects minimise environmental damage and create jobs. Heavy-haul railways are not new to
West Africa. In Liberia, the 267km standard-gauge Lamco (Liberia American Mining Company) Railway - recently rehabilitated by steel giant ArcelorMittal - was already running 90-wagon 10,700-tonne ore trains in the 1970s. In neighbouring Guinea, the Compagnie de Bauxite du Guinea (CBG), assisted by the Aluminum
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