Land acquisition and displacement The construction of the railway and mine sites will likely force hundreds of people to leave their lands and homes. This has already been the case for local communities who have been evicted to make space for Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS)'s living quarters in Block 1 and 2. These communities, especially women, were not properly consulted. In addition, the railway, which is currently being constructed for the Simandou project, passes through a territory that is home to at least 450 communities. ​​Several community members have already been impacted by the railway infrastructure, and have expressed concerns about the obstacles they face in negotiating equitable compensation, with many reporting under-compensation or outright theft of their homes and agricultural lands. 

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This map shows communities within a 5 km buffer zone along the cleared Simandou railroad (546 km of 650 km cleared to date) and in close proximity to the Simandou mining blocks.

Photo: EarthInsight

Impacts on livelihoods WCS' own environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) (1) warns that deforestation and land loss associated with the construction of the mine’s infrastructure risk impacting activities that communities rely on for food security, such as farming, hunting, and fishing, and access to water sources. Coastal communities living nearby the port that is also currently being developed for the Simandou project complain of the complete devastation of their livelihoods, as port construction and vehicle traffic have driven away fish populations and blocked them from access to productive fishing grounds. Communities living in Blocks 1 and 2 of the project have also been heavily impacted, as noise pollution produced by company machinery has driven away usual wildlife species, creating scarce hunting conditions. These communities have also reported a decrease in agricultural yields due to laterite soil and mud from the Simandou project being dumped nearby and invading cultivation areas.

Impacts on civic space Guinea's civic space, including threats to freedom of association and expression, is classified as “repressed” in the CIVICUS 2022 assessment. Rights-holders at the local and national levels may risk reprisals when seeking to denounce violations of their rights. 

Impacts on cultural rights The pathway of the railway, as identified by WCS, has the potential to impact over 100 cultural sites, including areas and structures of spiritual value like sacred sites, graves, and cemeteries. Many of these have yet to be assessed for significance, and it remains unclear how many will be destroyed or relocated. WCS's ESIA for its mining blocks fails to meaningfully assess or plan for preservation of cultural sites at all.

Carbon emissions The Simandou iron ore mine has the potential to generate significant carbon emissions, including during land and forest clearing, drilling, blasting, hauling, and processing. WCS’s own environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) estimated that Blocks 1 and 2 alone have the potential to produce up to 19 million tonnes of carbon emissions over the 22-year anticipated lifetime of the mine, which is equal to about 41% of Guinea’s total emissions in 2020 and equivalent to burning 10 million tonnes of coal. An independent expert evaluated the company’s ESIA, and concluded that this is “likely a gross underestimate”, because of a failure to  include emissions resulting from deforestation. On top of this, the land clearing alone - also as estimated by WCS - could release up to 271,300 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which, according to an analysis by Human Rights Watch, is equivalent to burning about 136,000 tonnes of coal.

Impacts on biodiversity and wildlife Guinea has been facing rapid rates of deforestation, with the Nzérékoré region – where the Simandou project is located – having experienced the highest rate of deforestation in the country between 2001 and 2021. The clearance of large areas of forest for mining can lead to habitat loss and fragmentation, disrupting ecosystems and affecting biodiversity. The Simandou region is home to a diverse range of wildlife, including endangered and endemic species. The loss of habitat can lead to a decline in these populations, which can have long-term ecological consequences.  Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS)’s activities have already put nature into great danger, as the company has already cleared approximately 85% of land necessary for the construction of the railway, according to an analysis by Earth InSight. The railway’s route cuts through extensive tracts of primary rainforest known to be the natural habitat of the critically endangered Western Chimpanzee and African Forest Elephant and the endangered Western Red Colobus monkey.

There are clear indications that the impacts of the railroad construction extends well beyond what was presented in the ESIA. A 2022 review of WCS’s environmental and social impact assessment revealed that the company failed to assess its mining blocks for these well-known endangered species, and that its plans to mitigate impacts on biodiversity were grossly inadequate. 

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This map aims to illustrate the large scale threats to Chimpanzees in Guinea posed by the development of the Simandou mining complex and the associated railroad development. The map shows the modeled density of Chimpanzees according to Heinicke et al., 2019. Heinicke et al. (2019) caution that “Modeled estimates are associated with uncertainties due to the possibility of missing predictors, and differences in spatial scale of different predictor datasets. Uncertainties are more pronounced for areas with fewer data and those that differ strongly from surveyed areas regarding predictor space coverage.” Bright red areas on the map have high likelihoods of Chimpanzees, though due to the methods used, may not be a perfect indicator. Due to lack of systematic studies of their distribution, it is thought that there may be an under-representation on the Guinean side of the border, especially surrounding the proposed Pinselli, Soyah and Sabouyah national park. The railroad development in the PPS area (see next map) is of particular concern.

Photo: EarthInsight

Impacts on protected nature areas The railway traverses several protected areas, including the Haut Niger National Park, which was created to protect one of the last remnants of dry forest in Guinea, and the Outumba-Kilimi-Kuru Hills-Pinselli-Soya Transboundary Priority Landscape, which includes primary forest, buffer zones, and corridors essential for the survival of endangered species such as the forest elephant, pygmy hippopotamus, and the Western African chimpanzee. The railway will run just adjacent to other protected areas, such as the Outumba-Kilimi National Park in Sierra Leone and Kounounkan Classified Forest, likely opening these previously isolated areas up to inward migration and exploitation for bushmeat and forest clearance.  

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This map shows the potential threat to protected areas based on proximity to the railroad and mining areas. Protected areas were derived from the WDPA database and includes all IUCN classes. Red areas indicate protected areas at risk of impacts of the railroad development and mining activities, while the lighter red/pink indicates provisional limits of the Pinselli, Soyah and Sabouyah (PPS) combined protected area. Background layers represent important conservation values such as other protected areas (light green), Key Biodiversity Areas (darker green) and biodiversity hotspots (purple).

Photo: EarthInsight

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This satellite map shows the outline of the proposed Pinselli, Soyah and Sabouyah national park on the border with Sierra Leone, which is thought to be an important landscape for the conservation of primates (Chimpanzees and other species), African Forest Elephants, White-Backed Vultures, and other species (WCF, 2023, Rainforest Trust, 2023). The black line indicates the pathway of the Simandou railroad which was cleared between approximately early 2021 and April 2023 (derived from NICFI data, Planet.com). Orange segments indicate tunnels, which are currently under construction and require extensive blasting efforts. Yellow lines indicate the access roads that were created through the landscape, which extend well beyond the limits outlined in the Project Environmental Impact Assessment.

Photo: EarthInsight

Impacts on water sources The railway currently being developed cuts across several important waterways, and communities have already reported that critical water streams have been polluted due to construction activity.   Reported cases  include the pollution of watercourses by pipeline water at the Sekoussoriyah tunnel (Kindia region), pollution of the Balin stream at Oure Kaba (Mamou region), pollution of springs (Warada and Namba) by drilling work at Damaro (Kérouané region), and drainage of mud and sand into the Karako-Konsankoro stream bed (Kérouané region). Additionally, the Simandou mining project will release heavy metals, posing a threat to the health of nearby communities and endangering aquatic ecosystems. According to the project's environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA), there is a high probability that toxic effluents will be produced near the region's major rivers, notably the Dion, Milo and Diani. Pollution of water sources – as explained by a 2022 assessment of the WCS’s ESIAenvironmental and social impact assessment – could have devastating impacts, as the mining blocks cover over 100 km of mountains whose streams feed directly into the water of the Niger River, Africa’s third longest river and a critical water source across four West African countries. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis of the project’s impacts on water is necessary before it goes ahead.

Emergence of new infectious diseases Several studies suggest that large-scale industrial development projects, such as mining, can increase the risk of zoonotic disease transmission, which can lead to pandemics. A recent report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) emphasises the importance of protecting biodiversity and natural ecosystems in preventing future pandemics. The report notes that the destruction of natural habitats, including deforestation, which often takes place in mining operations and is a risk associated with the Simandou project, can increase the likelihood of zoonotic disease transmission. Furthermore, the railway associated with the Simandou project cuts across an area that was the epicentre of the West Africa Ebola outbreak, which killed over 11,000 people between 2013-2016. This shows the concrete risks of pandemics and other widespread disease outbreaks in this area in Guinea.

Links to impacts at Boké bauxite mine WCS was set up by the same founders as the SMB Winning Consortium, a mining group that exploits the Boké bauxite mine in northwestern Guinea. This consortium has a disastrous track record of unremediated human rights impacts and disrespect of community land and environmental rights, as documented extensively in a 2018 Human Rights Watch report and a 2023 Natural Justice community audit. The pattern of negligence with respect to air quality, uncompensated or undercompensated taking of lands, and pollution of water sources already observed along the Simandou railway route - along with the lack of transparency and hesitation to engage substantively with affected communities - is strikingly similar to the criticisms of SMB’s record at Boké.