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Vol 3 (AAC) No 9

Published 1st July 2010


Guinea

And the winner is...the CIF

The shadowy China International Fund believes that its political contacts will protect its deals after the election

The continuing power of Mines Minister Mahmoud Thiam and the prospect that he will wield influence after the second round of the presidential elections next month is good news for the China International Fund's multibillion iron ore mining deal. Yet many industry experts still doubt the capacity of CIF and its Australian partner, Bellzone, to raise the necessary finance for the project (AAC Vol 3 No 8). Neither of the candidates in the second round Cellou Dalein Diallo or Alpha Condé - have committed categorically either to retaining or scrapping the deals. Yet it is clear that CIF is in a better position than most to protect its interests in Guinea having built up a powerful web of local protectors.The joint venture, Kalia Horizons Minerals, gives CIF exclusive rights to develop the infrastructure linking the port of Matakan by rail to Faranah, near Bellzone's deposits at Kalia, and would if built represent the first part of the trans-Guinea railway for which successive Guinean regimes have long wished.

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