Rio Tinto Offered Bribe for Mine, Ex-Guinea Minister Says
- Claim, denied by ex-Rio executive, comes amid internal probe
- Eight-year Simandou iron ore scandal reignited by new claims
The Simandou project
Source: Rio TintoA Rio Tinto Group executive asked how big a bribe it would take to beat out a competitor for a hotly contested iron ore deposit in Guinea, the country’s former mining minister said, adding a new accusation of graft just days after the world’s second-biggest miner fired two of its top executives over a payment made in connection with the West African project.
Mahmoud Thiam, the former mining minister, said that the head of Rio Tinto’s Guinea operation, Steven Din, offered him a bribe in early 2010 in order to win back control of half of the undeveloped Simandou project, considered the world’s biggest untapped iron ore deposit. Din was attempting to regain control of the blocks from billionaire investor Beny Steinmetz’s BSG Resources Ltd., Thiam said in a Nov. 9 phone interview.