Originally published in Le Monde
In the heart of the site designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, the Guinean Iron Mining Company is preparing to launch the first phase of a mining project that threatens exceptionally rare ecosystems. The Guinean government has yet to give its approval.
On the edge of Guinea’s forest region, in the high-altitude savannas and foothills of the Nimba Mountains, viviparous toads, bats, and chimpanzees are unwittingly hindering the progress of a major mining project. How long can this last? For now, the reprieve depends on General Mamadi Doumbouya’s timetable. The coup leader, in power in Conakry since the 2021 coup, won the presidential election held in December and was officially sworn in as President of the Republic on Saturday, January 17.
“No decision will be made before a new government is formed. Then, a choice will have to be made. The survival of these species is hardly compatible with the exploitation of an iron ore deposit ,” admits a senior mining official in Conakry. The American company Ivanhoe Atlantic, which holds the concession, is awaiting government approval to begin operations and produce the ore it intends to export, shipping it through Liberia to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Nimba Mountains, which extend over smaller areas into Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia, have been protected by the status of a strict nature reserve since a decree issued in 1944 by the French colonial administration. These unique landforms, among which rise some of the highest peaks in West Africa, were subsequently classified as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1981. However, eleven years later, they were placed on the list of endangered sites due to the Guinean government’s decision to redraw the reserve’s boundaries to create an enclave open to mining exploration.
It is within this 15-square-kilometer area that, after several failed attempts, the Guinea Iron Ore Mining Company, 85% owned by the American company Ivanhoe Atlantic and 10% by the Guinean state, is preparing to launch the first phase of the project called “Kon Kweni” (“iron stones” in the Kono language). The scale of the project is nothing compared to that of the gigantic Simandou deposit, located some 150 kilometers further north, whose development, which has just begun after three decades of waiting, could generate enough revenue to transform the country.
Zoonotic diseases
But here, the open-pit mining of several tons of ore – between 2 and 5 million per year during the first ten years – threatens ecosystems whose diversity and degree of endemism are exceptionally rare. The Nimba Mountains, often described as the water tower of the region because of the fifty or so rivers that originate there, are the only site in the country classified as a World Heritage Site. On the slopes covered with rainforests live West African chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus), a species classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
In the mountain grasslands, at altitudes of 1,200 to 1,600 meters, lives the only known viviparous toad in the world – its females give birth to fully formed offspring and do not lay eggs. The Nimbaphrynoides occidentalis measures approximately 2 centimeters. Scientists are also concerned about the fate of two species of bats – the Nimba myotis, discovered in 2018, and Lamotte’s leaf-nosed bat – whose habitat is confined to the Guinean region.
In July 2025, faced with the risk of irreversible destruction, several nature conservation organizations sent a letter to the government requesting a renewable five-year moratorium on the Kon Kweni project, in order to allow sufficient time to assess all of its consequences. In addition to the threats to biodiversity, scientists are also warning against the risks of the spread of zoonotic diseases, such as Ebola, due to the opening up of previously isolated areas.
“World Heritage-listed nature reserves cover only 1% of the planet because they are exceptional sites. Nothing can compensate for their degradation. It is important to defend their integrity as the race for minerals intensifies. Mining companies have not demonstrated the effectiveness of the mitigation measures they claim to be implementing to reduce their impact on biodiversity. The areas that have been exploited resemble lunar landscapes, remaining sterile for decades after operations cease,” argues one of the signatories, primatologist Geneviève Campbell, a researcher.
Ivanhoe Atlantic is aware of all these issues. The American NGO Climate Rights International revealed on Tuesday, January 12, the environmental and social impact study for phase 1 of Kon Kweni, submitted by the company—as required by law to obtain an operating permit—to the Guinean government. The document, drafted by the French consulting firm Biotope, lists the risks of “major” environmental damage and estimates that Ivanhoe Atlantic faces a “real ecological challenge that will require very significant human, technical, and financial resources…”
Without a “detailed and operational” action plan for biodiversity, “the project would generate unacceptable impacts on the biodiversity of Mount Nimba and on the outstanding universal values of the UNESCO World Heritage site,” the document further states. This warning can only reinforce the scientists’ call for the Guinean government to act with the utmost caution.
Photo: © UNESCO, Author: Guy Debonnet.
Translation provided by Google Translate. Images may differ from original.