According to information received by the Xinhua news agency from Freetown, on Friday, the ship with the first shipment of iron ore headed from the port of Ash to China as part of a new project of the Chinese company Tsinghua to extract iron ore in Tonkolili in Sierra Leone. </p >
A new development project for the Tonkolili iron ore deposit was officially launched on September 23, 2020, with the investment of the Chinese company Tsinghua.
According to the head of the company Zhao Ting, the deposit in Tonkolili covers 408 km 2 , its reserves amount to about 13.7 billion tons of ore. A railway was laid to the deposit, a system for transporting raw materials to the port was established.
Currently, the first phase of the project involves the extraction, processing, transportation and marketing of raw iron ore. In the future, in accordance with the plans for the second stage, work will begin on the construction of the processing plant. The third stage is the construction of a steel industrial park.
Tsinghua's new iron ore project in Tonkolili gives impetus not only to the development of the mining and steel industry in Sierra Leone, but also contributes to the development of the steel industry in China, as well as strengthening friendship between the two countries, Zhao Ting said. /p>
As you know, the economy of Sierra Leone is almost entirely dependent on the export of iron ore and metal ores. Minerals account for 77% of this small West African nation's export earnings.
