Fortescue Metals Group has entered into an agreement with the Gabon government to study the development of the Belinga Iron Ore Project, the Australian group says in a statement seen by Kallanish.

The agreement aims to study and negotiate a Mining Convention for the development of Belinga, located in the northeast of Gabon. The project has been progressively assessed by Fortescue since 2018.

A separate Gabon mining company will be established by an incorporated joint venture, which will be 80% owned by Fortescue and 20% by the Africa Transformation and Industrialisation Fund. The latter is an Africa-focused investment fund incorporated in Abu Dhabi. This JV will enter into the Mining Convention and hold the mining tenure over the Belinga Iron Ore Project.

The joint venture will initially focus on exploration works to determine the potential size and grade of the Belinga iron ore deposit and logistics solutions during the 36-month exclusivity period, over an area totalling approximately 5,500 square kilometres.

“We welcome this important agreement and opportunity to work with the Gabon Government on a project with huge potential for Gabon’s future economic growth and development,” says Fortescue chairman and founder Andrew Forrest. “Fortescue began as a world-class exploration business and we believe that the Belinga Iron Ore Project is potentially one of the world’s largest undeveloped, high-grade hematite deposits.”

“This is a highly significant announcement for the future growth and development of our economy,” says Gabon’s Minister for Petroleum, Gas, Hydrocarbons and Mines, Vincent de Paul Massassa.

The government granted an operating permit for the Belinga mine in 2006 to the China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) before suspending it in 2011 owing to a dispute between the parties. SRK Consulting was contracted in 2014 to continue exploration, but this was later abandoned due to Gabon’s financial difficulties.

Historic reports have claimed resources, which are not compliant with modern reporting standards but give an indication of the potential size of the deposits, of more than 400 million tonnes at over 60% Fe content. These ore deposits are said to extend into neighbouring Cameroon and Congo.