Ann: Half Year 2024 Exceptional Items Update, page-21

The trouble with the West African iron ore narrative is simple geography and african politics, its at the exact opposite end of the world to China and will always be a longer shipping time and although the costs of mining are lower once you add the cost of having an additional shipping fleet at sea, constructing ports and rail lines in africa etc the african iron ore is not that much cheaper as landed cost in China compared to WA iron ore. Add to that any African dictator getting out of the wrong side of the bed and switching off/nationalizing/going to war with another African country and the supply risks are there, so guarantee of supply is always going to be problematic. Eventually the citizens of many african nations will get sick of seeing their resources shipped to China with only the elites seeing the profits and there will be big consequences for African politicians locally if they go "all in" with China, no matter how many brown paper bags the Chinese are prepared to use.

West Africa was the "Plan B" after the failed attempt to buy the WA Iron Ore industry.......