The Anglo-Australian miner owns two of four Simandou mining blocks as part of its Simfer joint venture with China's Chalco Iron Ore Holdings (CIOH) and the government of Guinea, where the mine is located. CIOH is 75% held by Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco) and 20% by Baowu Steel Group, with China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) and China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) each holding 2.5%. Simandou's other two blocks are owned by the Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS), made up of Singapore-based Winning International Group, Weiqiao Aluminium - part of the China Hongqiao Group (1378.HK) - and United Mining Suppliers. Rio earmarked $800 million for its share of the development in 2023 and around $2 billion a year in 2024 and 2025. Reporting by Clara Denina; Additional reporting by Felix Njini and Amy Lv; Editing by Jan HarveyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Persons: Chris Helgren, CIOH, CHEC, Simandou, Raphael Gnambalamou, Clara Denina, Felix Njini, Amy Lv, Jan Harvey Organizations: Rio Tinto, Developers Association of Canada, REUTERS, Ore Holdings, CIOH, Aluminum Corporation of China, Baowu Steel, China Railway Construction Corporation, China Harbour Engineering Company, Weiqiao, China Hongqiao, HK, United Mining Suppliers, Thomson Locations: Rio, Toronto , Ontario, Canada, Simandou, Guinea, China, Singapore