Dapilon-Santou railway, Guinea: WCRG conclude the assembly of two large stacker-reclaimer, an advantage to Bauxite mining companies

On 1^st January 2021, the Winning Consortium Railway Guinea (WCRG) concluded, the work relating to the assembly of the main structure of the two large stacker-reclaimers of the railway line from Dapilon (Boké) to Santou (Télimélé) in the administrative region of Boké across the locations of the giant mining investors.

The assembly process was finalized 15 days before the contractual deadline for the work. This indicates a good start to the construction work of the Dapilon-Santou railway in 2021.

According to professionals, “These two stacker-reclaimers were designed and manufactured by the Chinese group Dalian Huarui Heavy Industry (Group for the railroad) Dapilon-Santou in the Republic of Guinea.”

However, each reclaimer weighs 1,200 tonnes and stands 30 meters in height.

Since the signing of the supply contract on 18^th June 2019 between the Government of Guinea and that of the People's Republic of China, the two stacker-reclaimers have been directly submitted for examination for design and construction, supervision on the indicated site.

With the coordination of port and land services for ship loading, and after sea transport crossing two continents and three oceans, the two stacker-reclaimers finally arrived at the much-talked-about railway construction site and the assembly work was finally completed with great success.

The Dapilon-Santou railway is invested, managed and built independently by the SMB-Winning Consortium. It is a railway specially dedicated for a departure, to the transport of ore. Located between the area of ​​Boké and Kindia in Lower Guinea, the line extends over a distance of 135 km. This railway, whose entry into service is planned for June 2021, will also be used to transport bauxite in the mining area of ​​Santou (Télimélé) of the Consortium.

This railway project is an important infrastructure for companies operating in the exploitation of bauxite located along this axis.

According to specialists, "This rail infrastructure is one of the biggest investments in the mining sector in the last 40 years."