Disclosures

Across the Simandou project, our commitment to work in line with international standards and best practice guides our work every day. An important element of this is protecting the unique biodiversity found in the region around Simandou and the project infrastructure which includes critically endangered species such as the Western Chimpanzee.

Any development project has impacts, but by following internationally accepted best practice such as compliance with the International Finance Corporation (IFC)’s Performance Standards and Guinea’s own high legislative standards for environmental management, we firmly believe we can balance development with sustainability.

Under IFC Performance Standard 6 (PS6), we are committed to assessing impacts on Natural and Critical Habitats and to implementing the Mitigation Hierarchy: avoid, minimise, restore, and offset. You can find out more about our approach to implementing PS6 and the mitigation hierarchy here.

We have also committed as part of IFC PS6 to achieve a Net Gain for Critical Habitat Qualifying and Range Restricted species – meaning there will be a gain of biodiversity compared to when we began operations following the full implementation of the Mitigation Hierarchy.

As part of the Mitigation Hierarchy, we have already taken significant practical steps on avoidance and mitigation:

• Avoidance: preventing adverse impacts on biodiversity by selecting project locations and designs that avoid harm to sensitive ecosystems. In the case of Simandou, we have invested significantly in redesigning the SimFer mine so that it avoids critical chimpanzee habitat and protects biodiversity areas with an abundance of range restricted species (species which are unable to move far beyond their habitat).

• Minimisation: reducing the severity and extent of impacts that cannot be avoided through best environmental practices. At the SimFer mine, this includes measures such as building underpasses for animals to travel through, buffer zones and dust, light and noise suppression.

• Restoration/rehabilitation: repairing degraded ecosystems and restoring biodiversity in areas affected by project activities. Post-mining land rehabilitation programs at Simandou aim to restore ecosystems and support biodiversity regeneration, often in collaboration with conservation organisations. This will happen progressively throughout mine operations and at the point where the mine becomes non-operational.

Once the initial steps of the Mitigation Hierarchy have been applied, a detailed Residual Impact Assessment (RIA) is prepared to identify the impacts that remain on important habitats and species. This helps determine what offset actions are needed.

Offsets involve protecting and restoring ecologically suitable areas outside the project footprint so that residual impacts are counterbalanced and the project can achieve no net loss in Natural Habitat and net gain in Critical Habitat, in line with PS6.

The SimFer RIA identifies significant potential residual impacts on species like the Western Chimpanzee as well as impacts on other species of plants and animals. These are modelled forecasts for impacts on overall populations across the life of the project prior to the offset program being implemented, including existing animals as well as future animals who may have used habitat impacted by the project.

The RIA uses complex monitoring, forecasting and modelling to project our impacts, followed by review and validation by independent experts. For SimFer’s impact, this includes studies on biodiversity dating back to 2004. These studies will continue to be updated based on ongoing monitoring.

Now that the RIA is complete, work is well underway to identify and secure high-quality sites elsewhere in Guinea to offset these impacts and achieve a long-term gain in the populations of these species. In total, the project may require up to 2 million hectares of offsets to meet its commitments and studies have been ongoing since 2023 to identify suitable areas across Guinea. This work is expected to continue over the next 3-5 years, driven by a dedicated team. Once sites have been identified as feasible, SimFer and the Simandou partners will work with the Government to ensure biodiversity is protected in these areas for the long term. A critical part of this is working with local communities to ensure this provides economic opportunities, for example through ranger and eco-guard employment programmes, and sustainable forestry management.

Through this approach, Simandou has the potential to carefully manage its impact alongside providing materials that are critical for a lower carbon future while making a transformative contribution to Guinea’s economy and development.

You can find the RIA for the SimFer mine and rail spur here.