The first shipment of iron ore from Sierra Leone’s New Tonkolili Iron Ore Project set sail for China from the country’s Pepel Port on Friday.
The shipment was the first batch of products from Sierra Leone’s New Tonkolili Iron Ore Project invested and operated by Kingho Investment Company Limited, a Chinese-owned private company.
Zhao Ting, Chief Executive Officer of the company, said the project, which started in September 2020, covers an area of 408 square kilometers with a resource capacity of 13.7 billion tons, adding that the project is equipped with a complete railway and port logistics transportation system.
The whole industrial chain of raw ore mining and processing, shipping and sales has been completed in the first phase of the project. The company will also start construction of a primary magnetite ore concentrator and an iron and steel industrial park for mining, dressing and smelting in the second and third phase of the project respectively, said Zhao.
“The project will not only inject impetus into the development of Sierra Leone’s national mining and iron and steel industry, but also help the development of China’s iron and steel industry and enhance the friendship between the two countries,” Zhao said.
