Guinea presents $7.5 billion of projects at Simandou Mining Summit
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Mosaiqueguinee, Africaguinée and Financial Afrik
At the first Simandou Mining Summit, Guinea showcased $7.5 billion of economic diversification projects. Africaguinée reports that four priority projects, valued at $3.8 billion, were presented directly to investors at a summit that brought together 2,240 participants from 41 countries.
According to the Ministry of Mines and Geology, the four priority files were negotiated under the leadership of this ministry and the Guinea Development Board. They include a bus rapid transit system and a heavy urban railway designed to ease congestion in Greater Conakry, the Southern Coastal Road, and solar installations with batteries, located in Dabola and Faranah.
Mines and Geology Minister Bouna Sylla also outlined the Boffa deep-water port, valued at $1.9 billion and offered to funders alongside the AfDB. Royal Haskoning carried out the feasibility study, and the environmental and social assessments have been completed. According to the minister, the infrastructure will accommodate 200,000-tonne vessels, will not serve only ore, and will become the logistics hub of the Gulf of Guinea. Its depth would reach 20 metres, compared with 17 to 18 metres at Lomé, and it would limit offshore transhipment near Boké. Partners present included the World Bank, Tanger Med, private funds, Abu Dhabi’s ADPC, the Islamic Development Bank and the AfDB.
On energy, the Ministry of Energy is overseeing projects totalling more than $3 billion across five projects, including the Fomi dam ($460 million) and a 500 MW gas-fired power plant, valued at $550 million. For water, the Guinea Water Compact 2026-2040 reaches $3.48 billion, but $2.1 billion still needs to be raised by 2030. Only 11% of financing has so far been secured, and just 23% of the population is connected to the SEG network.
Land reserves for special economic zones and industrial parks, valued at nearly $1 billion within a public-private framework, could create up to 85,000 jobs along the Simandou corridor. The Ministry of Livestock also unveiled a plan to reduce frozen chicken imports, built around ten production hubs spread across the country. The summit also attracted leaders of major mining companies, including Bill Oplinger, CEO of Alcoa, Gary Nagle, chief executive of Glencore, and Sun Xiushun, chairman of Winning International Group. Sharon Thorne, a director of Rio Tinto, attended, and Dominic Barton, chair of the group’s board, took part by video message.
