Even in Conakry's most polished hotels and ministries, power outages are a daily reminder that a country with ambitions for energy-hungry steel mills still struggles to power basic services. For Guinea's citizens, it is the key question hanging over the Simandou iron project : can the government muster the energy to turn its mineral windfall into the foundation of a modern industrial economy?
"It is not enough to export rocks," says minister of planning Ismal Nab. "The real opportunity is to build industries that endure."
The first step is pelletisation - compressing crushed ore into uniform pellets suitable for direct reduction or smelting. This process reduces impurities and lowers the amount of energy required to make steel.
