Simandou PROJECT

Almost 15,000 Lorbrand conveyor idlers on the world's largest high-grade iron ore deposit, exporting roughly 65% Fe ore through Africa's largest greenfield mine-rail-port project.

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PROJECT REFERENCE

SimFer Simandou Iron Ore Project

Simandou is one of the largest untapped, highest-grade iron ore deposits in the world and has been described as the biggest mining and infrastructure project in Africa. Operated by SimFer in Guinea's Nzérékoré region, it pairs the mine with a complete export chain: ore is crushed at the mountain plant, carried 2.4 km down to a stockyard by conveyor, then loaded onto a newly built 600+ km trans-Guinean heavy-haul railway bound for a new deep-water port on the Atlantic coast.
Location Nzérékoré, Guinea
Operator Rio Tinto / Chalco
Lorbrand supply 2025
Industry Iron ore mining
Close-up of Simondou roller shaft fit check in frame
PROJECT DATA

Scale of the operation.

~65%
Iron Ore Content
60 Mt/y
SimFer Production
2.4 km
Mine-to-Stockyard Conveyor
600+ km
Trans-Guinean Rail
Getting Simandou to first ore took more than 25 years of legal and political delays. In some of Guinea's most challenging topography, entire mountain sections were lowered by more than 90 m to create stable mining platforms. The export leg is on the same scale: each of the roughly 100-wagon heavy-haul trains carries up to 8,000 tonnes of ore on the 18-hour run to the coast.
LORBRAND SCOPE

Engineered for Simandou.

Lorbrand supplied almost 15,000 conveyor idlers for the Simandou operation, built to withstand abrasive run-of-mine iron ore, high throughput and tropical conditions.
sim retr imp (1).webp
PROJECT OUTCOME

Simandou gives Lorbrand a reference installation on Africa's largest new mining project, with first shipments going to Chinese and global steel mills. Its ore, at roughly 65% iron content with very low impurities, suits lower-carbon steelmaking.

— Simandou · 2025
sim insp2 (1).webp
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