中國日報網7月24日電 據英國路透社7月4日報道, 7月4日,英國-澳大利亞礦業巨頭力拓集團(Rio Tinto)新任首席執行官雅克先生(Mr. Jean-Sebastien Jacques)在接受英國《泰晤士報》采訪時表示,鑒于鐵礦石國際市場供大于求,且幾內亞西芒杜鐵礦石項目投資巨大,力拓集團沒有足夠理由繼續推進該項目。
7月4日,英國-澳大利亞礦業巨頭力拓集團新任首席執行官雅克(Mr. Jean-Sébastien Jacques)在接受英國《泰晤士報》(The Times)采訪時表態原文如下:
Mr.Jean-Sebastien Jacques, who starts work today as chief executive of Rio Tinto, has told The Times that the enormous cost of developing the mine could not be justified in an iron ore market that is suffering from huge overcapacity。
雅克首席執行官的上述表態被幾內亞各界解讀為力拓公司打算暫時擱置西芒杜鐵礦石項目的開發。
另據幾內亞媒體報道,多家幾內亞媒體聯系力拓集團總部,希望證實此事,但力拓集團總部一律拒絕就雅克首席執行官的上述表態發表任何評論。
駐幾內亞使館經商處
2016年7月22日
Rio Tinto chief shelves giant Guinea iron ore project: newspaper
Mon Jul 4, 2016
REUTERS
Paul Hackett/File Photo
Rio Tinto has shelved its $20 billion Simandou iron ore project in Guinea because of a sustained slump in prices, the company's new Chief Executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques said in an interview with The Times newspaper.
Rio Tinto declined to comment on the article.
The world's second biggest miner by market capitalization had been seeking financing for Simandou, even after a $1.1 billion writedown on the project in February. Last month the Anglo-Australian company submitted a feasibility study to the Guinean government.
But global oversupply of iron ore made the project inviable at this time, Jacques told The Times.
Simandou would have comprised an iron ore mine in central Guinea, a 650-kilometer (404-mile) railway and a deepwater port on the West African country's Atlantic Coast.
At full production, Rio said the project would generate about $7.5 billion in revenues, according to a 2014 report, and add $5.6 billion to Guinea's GDP, making Guinea the fastest growing economy in the world.
The country's ministry of mines said in a statement on Monday that it plans to pursue the project despite Rio Tinto's decision.
"Despite the challenge of financing the project, we believe that a financing solution will be found with partners who share our long-term perspective," it said.
(Reporting by Saliou Samb, writing by Edward McAllister; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg, David Goodman and Marguerita Choy)