China is the world's largest steel producer. Today, China's total steel output is more than the total output of other countries in the top 10 except China. But at the same time, China is not a country with a large amount of high-quality iron ore. Every year, iron and steel companies have to spend a lot of money to purchase iron ore from all over the world to meet the growing demand for raw materials from domestic steel companies. But now the world pattern has changed suddenly. There are two bad news about China's iron ore imports, and it is experiencing a major crisis.
World Wide Web reported that on the night of September 5, the leader of the Guinea special forces , Mamadi, entered the capital of Guinea and defeated the security forces in the capital of Guinea in a very short time. And occupied the government office building, while the President of Guinea Condé was also detained by the rebel soldiers. Subsequently, the leader of the rebel force, Mamad , announced through a video that the current government of Guinea was dissolved, the current administrative law of Guinea was abolished, and the land and air borders of Guinea were closed, and a curfew was announced in the capital.
Such emergencies have made countries all over the world feel a little panic, and China is the most affected.
In 2017, the Australia Morrison government , which just came to power, unilaterally announced that Australia’s ore export companies must increase the price of iron ore exported to China by ,Although China sent a large number of personnel to negotiate with the Australian government, Morrison still chose not to lower the price of iron ore exported to Chinese companies, so Chinese companies had to choose to find alternative sources of high-quality iron ore all over the world.
Guinea in West Africa is a country with a large amount of high-quality iron ore. Among them, Simandu iron mine is one of the largest iron ore areas in the world_ strong2strong, the proven iron ore reserves have reached 2.25 billion tons , the grade of iron ore produced by this mine reaches 67%, and is far better than the 48 of Australian iron ore. % And 52% of Brazil’s iron ore , this iron ore is not only of excellent quality, but also very rich in reserves. However, due to the remote location of the iron ore and the Guinea side has never carried out infrastructure construction around the mine, although this iron ore was discovered very early, it has never been exploited on a large scale in history.
In 2008, the political situation in Guinea was turbulent. After the situation stabilized, Chinese companies began to enter Guinea to investigate this iron ore mine. Guinea, out of comprehensive considerations, requires Chinese companies not only to be responsible for iron ore mining, but also to carry out certain construction of infrastructure in the region . The Chinese side expressed its understanding of the Guinean government’s vision, but at the same time it also requested an agreement with the Guinean side to have the right to mine for a longer period of time. According to a report on the official website of China Metallurgical News in August this year, Simandou Iron Mine is difficult to develop mainly because the government of Guinea put forward a hard requirement to build , a railway of about 650 kilometers and a deep-water port , for iron ore export. The investment required for the construction of this public infrastructure is huge. Finally, around 2016, Chinese companies won the 30-year mining rights for this iron ore.
However, the sudden occurrence of the coup d’état on September 5 not only made it difficult to guarantee the personal safety of Chinese citizens in Guinea, but at the same time, whether this iron ore Chinese company can continue to mine has also become a huge doubt. Because of the initiator of this coup, Mamadi Although nominally the leader of the Guinea Special Forces, he is actually a complete warlord. Guinea’s special forces are fundamentally his own private soldiers. The special forces he commanded have been cooperating with Western intelligence organizations all year round. US’s CIA and Britain’s MI6 often employ them. Carry out some elusive activities. At the same time, Mamadi himself was born in a mercenary group in France, and his personal relationship with Western countries is very close. to prevent China from continuing to mine Simandou iron ore is also in line with the Western strategy to contain China.
"Australian Financial Review" analyzed on September 6th, "Previously, international commodity prices have risen.It once rekindled hope that Guinea might build a major iron ore production site in Simandou . However, the news about the military coup has made the outside world once again doubt whether this West African country has the ability to become a major iron ore producer comparable to Australia. The report also pointed out that the reason why Simandou has become the focus of attention in recent years is precisely because Chinese companies and Singaporean companies have jointly won the mining rights of the two blocks. This has also made Simandou be regarded by the outside world as China. A great way to reduce Australia’s dependence on iron ore.
Everything that happened in Guinea is still in the middle of a lot of fog, and there is another African country that has a very close relationship with China. The country’s industry, this country is the Congo (DRC) located in central Africa.
On September 13, according to Agence France-Presse, the Congo (DRC) expressed doubts about China’s iron ore mining contract in the country. , Its President Tsisekedi openly emphasized in the cabinet meeting that the current iron ore export agreement will only make Chinese companies more and more profitable, while the country itself is extremely difficult to obtain benefits from existing contracts. Zisekedi said that the actual result did not meet the mutual benefit standard declared by the two parties when the agreement was signed.
In addition to the government, the public also launched protests.
learned on September 15 that hundreds of residents in South Kivu Province of the Congo (DRC) held a demonstration, demanding a Chinese mining company to stop mining activities. During , the demonstrators burned tires and blocked roads.Subsequently, security personnel opened fire to disperse the crowd, causing no casualties. It is reported that the Chinese mining company, which is suspected of "illegal mining" by , caused damage to farmland and forests in the local mining area, and the protesters demanded compensation.
China has also responded to Tsisekedi’s appeal and public protests.
On September 13th, in response to Tsisekedi’s call, Zhao Lijian stated that the China and Congo (DRC) "resource exchange project" package of cooperation is a model project of pragmatic cooperation between the two countries, which has not only effectively promoted local Mining development, tax increase, employment expansion, and investment in infrastructure projects such as highways, hospitals, and hydropower stations in the country through relevant cooperation, making positive contributions to promoting the economic and social development of the Congo (DRC). Not long ago, the Busuanga Hydropower Station under the aforementioned cooperation framework was officially closed for water storage and put into production to generate electricity. It became the largest hydropower station in Congo (DRC), providing important power for the next stage of Congo’s mining development and infrastructure. supply. The Chinese enterprise of the project also actively fulfills its corporate social responsibility, gives back to the local society, and benefits the local people. Not long ago, it signed a 11.5 million USD assistance agreement with related places in Katanga Province to support the construction of local roads and power facilities, Education, medical care and environmental improvement have been warmly welcomed by the local people.
On September 16, according to the South China Morning Post, the South Kivu province of Congo (DRC) previously suspended the operation of six Chinese-funded companies due to illegal mining and environmental damage. Chang Wu Peng responded to this incident with three tweets on the 14th.It said that China supports the Congo (DRC) in cracking down on illegal economic activities in accordance with the law, and has instructed the company involved to completely stop related businesses and leave South Kivu.
It is worth noting that on August 27, Congolese Minister of Mining Nsamba also stated that the Congolese government welcomes Chinese mining companies to invest in Congo and appreciates the important contributions that Chinese companies have made to Congo’s economic and social development.
Therefore, the Congo (DRC) government can make such a decision, and it is difficult to say that it has not been affected by the international political situation. Congo (DRC) has always had very close relations with Western countries. The political systems of these African countries are also very fragile. Under the influence of Western forces, the downfall of a regime is also very easy.
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