China has received its first shipment of iron ore from the Simandou mine in Guinea.

China Baowu Steel Group said a vessel carrying nearly 200,000 tonnes of iron ore arrived at Majishan port in Shengsi, Zhejiang province, on 17 January after a 46-day voyage from West Africa.

This is the first iron ore shipment from the Simandou project to reach China.

The shipment is expected to support long-term iron ore supply for Chinese steelmakers. After unloading, about 24,000 tonnes of iron ore will be transported by river to China Baowu’s steel base in Shanghai’s Baoshan district.

The remaining cargo will be processed at port facilities before being supplied to domestic steel producers.

Simandou is located in southeastern Guinea and is one of the world’s largest open-pit iron ore mines, with proven reserves of around 4.4 billion tonnes. The mine produces high-grade iron ore with an iron content of about 65 percent.

The project began operations in November and has a planned annual production capacity of 120 million tonnes.

Once fully operational, Simandou is expected to account for about five percent of global iron ore supply, equivalent to nearly ten percent of China’s iron ore imports in 2024.

China is the world’s largest iron ore consumer and currently imports about 80 percent of its iron ore from Australia and Brazil.

In 2024, China imported approximately 1.237 billion tonnes of iron ore. Beijing has been working to reduce this dependence by increasing domestic output and investing in overseas mining projects.

Simandou is divided into four mining blocks. Investors include Rio Tinto, China-owned Chalco, and the Winning Consortium Simandou, a Singaporean-Chinese partnership.

China Baowu has also become a key shareholder following the transfer of shareholding rights by Winning Consortium Simandou.

In a separate development, another shipment of high-grade iron ore from Simandou’s blocks 3 and 4 arrived at Rizhao Port in Shandong province.

This cargo was delivered by SimFer, a joint venture involving the Guinean government, Rio Tinto and Chalco Iron Ore Holdings, a Chinalco-led partnership that includes China Baowu.

The iron ore delivered to Shandong will be processed at a dedicated tertiary crushing facility located within the port before being sold to Chinese steelmakers.

China Baowu has also confirmed that a second shipment of Simandou iron ore departed Guinea in late December.

References: Reuters, shanghai