West Africa is the new Iron Ore frontier with some of the largest undeveloped Iron Ore deposits in the world. We have been working in Guinea since 2004 through our joint venture subsidiary Société des Mines de Guinée (SMFG). SMFG holds a mining concession over the Nimba iron ore deposit in South East Guinea. Nimba, together with our other properties in Guinea are an attractive suite of investments which have the potential to form the backbone of a world class cluster of mines around an integrated rail and port infrastructure, similar to the way the Western Australia Iron Ore operation started in the 1960s.

The continuing growth of our West Africa business has resulted in a number of exciting and challenging employment opportunities. We currently employ approximately 500 people on the SMFG joint venture in Guinea and Liberia.