The The completion and commencement of operations of the Simandou mine presents hope for a cleaner, more efficient, more diversified iron and steel supply chain, benefitting the world but especially Guinea, which has historically been left behind. But challenges remain. — On January 17, a 200,000-ton shipment of iron ore pulled into Majishan Port in Zhejiang Province, China. Rather than from Australia or Brazil, which make up 69% and 21% of Chinese iron ore imports, respectively, this shipment came from the West African country of Guinea, marking the first delivery from Simandou, the world’s largest untapped deposit of high-grade iron ore. The mine, located in the mountains of south-eastern Guinea, has a price tag to match its giant iron ore reserves. At $23 billion, the project is the world’s most capital-intensive mining project. China owns some 75% – of the four blocks that the mine is divided into, two are owned by the Chinese group Winning Consortium Simandou, and the remaining are split between global mining and metals company Rio Tinto, the Chinese group Chalco Iron Ore Holdings, and the Guinean government. Analysts and industry insiders have lofty expectations for the project: its 65.3% iron content – higher purity than most mines, leading to lower processing costs – positions it in the top quartile of iron ore mining projects by cost competitiveness. In fact, given the superior quality of Simandou’s ore, its iron seems ideal for use in the green steel industry, as Rio Tinto has hinted. This comes at a time when the global iron and steel industry, which contributes 7-9% of all global CO2 emissions – a figure which will likely increase as this sector is notoriously difficult to decarbonize – is making little progress in decarbonization. But whether the Simandou project can accelerate the transition to low-carbon