GENEVA, April 30 (Reuters) – Guinea’s President Alpha Conde said on Wednesday he hoped Brazilian miner Vale would bid to reclaim two iron ore permits, because the company had not been involved in the alleged corruption that led to their cancellation.
Guinea cancelled the two mining concessions jointly held by Vale and BSG Resources earlier this month, after a government-appointed technical committee accused BSGR of obtaining the rights through corruption.
BSGR, the mining branch of Israeli billionaire Beny Steinmetz’s conglomerate, has denied the allegations and said it will seek international arbitration. Conde told reporters during a visit to Geneva on Wednesday that Vale, the world’s largest iron ore producer, had done nothing wrong.
“We will launch an open and transparent bidding process … Vale was not involved in the corruption or aware of it and we strongly hope that Vale will participate,” Conde said.
“Vale can come back through the bidding process,” he added.
Vale entered into a joint venture with BSGR to mine the giant Simandou iron ore deposit and the nearby Zogota concession after the permits were already acquired and has denied any wrongdoing.
According to a source close to the company, Vale had spent more than $1 billion on its Guinean venture by the time it put the project on hold at the end of 2012.
Vale has not said whether it will try to get the concessions back and company officials were not immediately available for comment after Conde’s statement.
Guinea is already the world’s top supplier of the aluminium ore bauxite and its iron ore reserves have drawn billions of dollars in investments.
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