A Chinese-backed consortium of Guinea's Société Minière de Boke (SMB) and Singapore's Winning plans to commission production at its Guinea iron mine in 2025, according to media reports.

The main investors in SMB-Winning include Chinese aluminium producer Shandong Weiqiao Group and Shandong Yantai Port Group, while the Guinean government owns 10%. 

In June the operator of the mine signed a mining concession agreement with the government of Guinea, Kallanish notes. This project is in the charge of Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS). The Simandou deposit is the world's largest untapped iron ore resource.

In 2019, the investors won a $14 billion tender to develop blocks 1 and 2 of Simandou (see Kallanish passim). Blocks 3 and 4 of the mine are owned by a joint venture of Rio Tinto, China Aluminium Corp (Chinalco), and the Guinean government. Rio Tinto is planning for development through its 45% stake in the blocks. Chinalco and the Guinean government hold a 40% and 15% stake respectively in Blocks 3 and 4.