Suits and Boots | The Sustainable Business Podcast

Mining Indaba: Beyond the Mine Site | Infrastructure, Corridors, and Regional Development

• Season 2 • Episode 8

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 29:49

In this episode, we explore how large-scale mining projects can be designed as engines of economic development. Our speakers discuss mining infrastructure at a landscape-scale, the role of mineral corridors, infrastructure-led industrialisation, and the mindset shifts needed from investors, governments and companies to deliver long-term inclusive impact and shared prosperity.

Speakers include:

  • Assheton Stewart Carter I Executive Chair and Founder at TDi Sustainability
  • Safiatou Diallo | General Manager - Regional Economic Development & Strategy at Rio Tinto Guinea

Safiatou Diallo leads Rio Tinto’s regional economic development and strategy for the Simandou Project in Guinea- one of the world’s most significant mining developments. She works to ensure the project creates shared value through infrastructure, local enterprise growth, and partnerships that foster sustainable investment and regional transformation.

This episode is part of the TDi Sustainability special series of podcasts produced for the Mining Indaba event that will take place in Cape Town between 9th – 12th February 2026. Find out more about the event>

Assheton Stewart Carter:

Hello and welcome to this special edition of Suits and Boots, the TDI sustainability podcast series in conjunction with the Investing in Africa Mining in Darba. In this series, speakers at the 2026 Mining Indaba event discuss some of the key themes that will be covered at the conference. I'm Ashton Stewart Carter, Executive Chair at TDI Sustainability. So welcome to today's episode where we're exploring how large-scale mining projects can be designed as engines of economic development, perhaps not an obvious proposition. We'll be looking at shared prosperity, the role of mineral corridors, infrastructure-led industrialization, and the mindset shifts needed from investors, governments, and companies to deliver this long-term inclusive impact. I'm pleased to be joined for today's discussion by Safiatou Diallo, who is the General Manager for Regional Economic Development and Strategy at Rio Tinto, Guinea. Rather than summarize Safiatou's impressive resume, I'll let her tell her own story in just a little while. So first, a very big welcome to Safiatou.

Safiatou Diallo:

Thank you, Assheton. It's a pleasure to join this conversation. I am currently the general manager for regional economic development for Rio Tinto Guinea. And prior to joining the industry, I have worked in the public sector for Guinea, but also in international development organizations, primarily leading development work around economic opportunities, which have actually prepared me to contribute to this broader agenda within the mining industry.

Assheton Stewart Carter:

Safiatou, you've worked in government and you worked in multilateral institutions and now in industry. In just a few sentences, tell me what is your role at Rio Tinto? What does a GM for regional economic development and strategy do? And how did you get here?

Safiatou Diallo:

Thank you, Assheton. It's really a pleasure to join you on this conversation. Well, um, regional economic development um at Rio Tinto, for me, it's really supporting uh from the very beginning um the impact of the Simandou project in terms of contributing to the regional development of the of the Simandou uh corridor. And and with the team, um the work that we do is really trying to set and develop um economic opportunities that can really last um long after the long after the mine, long after the exploitation of the of the mine.

Assheton Stewart Carter:

Great. And um this is this obviously requires, or I think it must require, quite a lot of different disciplines. This isn't about mining, this isn't mineral engineering, this isn't just about community relations, this isn't external affairs, this is sort of everything together, economic development, um the whole the whole bundle. How do you how did you get to this position? What what disciplines did you have to bring to it? And explain what you think are the skills needed to make sure this is a success.

Safiatou Diallo:

Well, look Assheton, I I actually have moved um my career throughout government, development institutions, and now here I'm in um I'm in an industry. Those experiences actually have kind of shaped uh the way that we are looking at um at mining today, and it's really uh a combination of those experiences that basically from the very beginning positioned me to understanding that mining uh only becomes a real development tool when it's plugged into a broader vision. Um and it has to be one that is aligned with um economic diversification to support um you know the transformation effort and the transformation agenda. Um and that's what we are actually trying to do through the Simandou project. So we are aiming not just to build the mine, but really building a long-term value for communities through infrastructure, jobs, skills, um, and new economic opportunities outside of the mining. And it's really that mindset uh that is at the heart of our regional economic development strategy. So it's really making sure that a project of this scale can really unlock broader economic growth around the corridor, especially in remote rural areas.

Assheton Stewart Carter:

Great. And you you mentioned the word corridor. I'm gonna come to that in a little bit and maybe unpack that a little bit more. But it sounds like what you're doing here is almost inventing or you are participating in a new discipline at mining projects. This isn't taught at mining school or in universities, it's really a combination of different skills, talents, and experiences that you've built up over the years that you've got to bring to bear. So is this a signal that mining is no longer just digging stuff out of the ground and transporting it and processing it? Is this what we're talking about at the Mining Indaba when we when we talk about um community prosperity? Is this putting more of a responsibility on the mining companies?

Safiatou Diallo:

Yeah, so let me just start with kind of like setting the scene here. So we recently conducted, you mentioned uh the word corridor, recently conducted um a study to basically define um the geographic scope of what we call the economic uh corridor of the Simandou. And turns out that it represents 20% of Guinea's surface area, um, more than 75% of which is rural. We're talking about close to 2 million people on that corridor, 54, 54% um under 18. So, based on that, you see that the opportunities are really striking. And it's you we have to take into account those facts from the very beginning to really make sure that Simandou, being Africa's largest integrated Maya and infrastructure development project, is really well positioned to contribute to the regional development uh agenda that Guinea has set. Um so we cannot really uh you know do this in the traditional way. Um and we also have to remember that three to four years ago, this part of Guinea that we are talking about was completely locked from an infrastructure perspective. And here today we we have a mine uh that obviously will produce high-grade iron ore, but the real game changer is really um when you put everything together, meaning 600 kilometers of multi-user railway, a new port, um, with the potential, uh tangible actually now of opening uh regions that have never had this level of connectivity before. Um and therefore, when you combine all of this uh with the scale of this project, the the expected economic impact is really the increase, for instance, of gain of GDP by up to 55 percent, um, 1.4 billion a year in government revenues, thousands of jobs. Um we already working with uh more than 900 Guinean businesses. So with all of this, you you would agree that Simandou operates on a completely different scale, and it is truly positioned as a catalyst for regional transformation with the potential to have spillover effects actually uh along the corridor, but also across the country. So Simandou is not just a mining asset, it's it's really uh a new way of operating and a new way um of doing sustainable business.

Assheton Stewart Carter:

So that's interesting. Yeah, I mean the question I was going to ask is what is different about Simandu, and you partly answered that in terms of the the scale, um not a unique differentiator, but it's certainly a notable characteristic, it's a vast scale. But I'm also interested in the the last comment you made with mining um well, Simandou isn't just a mining project. Because it sounds like it's uh from your point of view, from the seat you're sitting in, this is like a regional development project. Um, and you're having to sort of understand what is going to be the regional development opportunities and make sure that they happen. Is that is is is that right? And I guess the question I have is why is that the responsibility of Simandou?

Safiatou Diallo:

Well, I I think uh and I want to say that it's actually a shared responsibility, um, as you know, Simandou is a partnership. Uh, it's a partnership with uh um you know with with with with with different um different stakeholders. Um and for the part that we are all trying to work together, when you take this corridor and um you know, outside of the mining sector, you are investing in areas like um agriculture, vocal training for young people and women, access to affordable basic social services, um, or better urban planning actually, as a starting point. Um this is really creating the conditions for long-term economic resilience along the corridor, um, and a resilience that actually continues well beyond the construction phase of this project. Um, and I think that's where the government, um the mining companies uh that are involved in Simandou um jointly understand uh what's at stake here and also understand that um shared prosperity or shared value starts when people can actually build um stable livelihoods um around the project and not just um beside it. Um so that's where the shared responsibility I think comes from.

Assheton Stewart Carter:

And I think you're pointing out this isn't just a compliance exercise. Some of these things that you're doing aren't going to be finding found in the mining code or in the regulations. These are things that you have to think about yourself in order to operate in this context.

Safiatou Diallo:

Um absolutely, Assheton. I mean, uh from what we are saying across the industry, I mean, communities are no longer satisfied with just being informed or consulted, right? Uh they really want to see real, tangible uh opportunities and lasting opportunities. And obviously that changes everything. Um I mean, they they understand nowadays that the resource will not last forever, um, but it's actually the opportunities that stem from exploiting the resources, those are the ones that can really create a long-lasting impact for them.

Assheton Stewart Carter:

Yeah, so in that participation hierarchy from inform being the kind of weakest form of participation to decision making be the highest form of participation, the communities are expecting now to move further towards the decision making and sharing benefits. And perhaps perhaps we can turn to that. Seeing nowadays that in the mining set that the financial models that are emerging are more about shared prosperity and revenue sharing. And how how do you go about that in terms of managing expectations and sharing responsibility and revenue with the different stakeholders around Simandu? What are some of the workable models you've managed to put in place or are had the potential to be successful, should I say, as we're just at the beginning of this journey?

Safiatou Diallo:

Well, with Simandou, I think um the the or even more in general, uh the models that really blend public and private investment um uh you know around a shared infrastructure investment are those that have the strongest um impact. And here the the multi-user railway port uh being developed basically to serve not only mining, but also um, as I've mentioned previously, agriculture, trade, and the opportunity for future industries. It's really this type of models that unlock um economic opportunities far beyond the extractive sector, especially in landlocked rural areas like we can see um in this part of the world. And this is really also what reduces um risks, um, align incentives, and ensure you know local benefits are built into the structure of this type of models. So I think it's really having these sorts of um co-developed infrastructures uh that can be a game changer uh in the industry.

Assheton Stewart Carter:

Got it. And so let's let's talk about um corridors. You know, conceptually, corridors are a fantastic idea from my kind of point of view. You can sort of see how the infrastructure can stitch together, how you can have a spatial um planning exercise to drive economic development and you know, potentially there's a peace dividend as it crosses national borders. But tell me a little bit from your point of view how you think replicable you think are corridors and whether they really are going to be the success story that everybody hopes. We've heard a lot of talk about the libido corridor, of course. Um be very grateful to hear some of your reflections on your on corridors being in the middle of one.

Safiatou Diallo:

Well, at least we do hope uh that this corridor will be uh will be successful. Um and and one way of of really doing that is you know by by ensuring uh the railway, the port, uh the systems that everything uh brought together is is reliable and designed to serve uh multiple users, actually. And it's really that combination that um will help unlock a much broader uh economic um activity. And it's in that sense actually that Simandou is uh come across as um you know a unique uh project because the rail is not only there to move iron ore, it's really opening entire areas that were previously hard to reach. And suddenly you do have farmers who can get their products to the market. Um, local traders will have the opportunity to move their goods more efficiently, and services will develop uh that you know, that were almost impossible before, um, you know, like healthcare consultation training programs, digital access can finally reach um rural areas. And when that kind of infrastructure um truly unlocks a region, when government partners and local communities uh pull in the same direction, something really close to magic happens. That's when it happens. Um, you know, places that felt isolated start to feel connected, start to feel alive and really full of new possibilities. Uh so I think it's really when all those things are put together that these corridors um can really be successful and can really be the game changer that we are talking about. And um I am really hopeful and confident um that working all together, this is something that we can really achieve with Simandou.

Assheton Stewart Carter:

And you talked about, I think you're absolutely right, that when everybody pulls together, then you've got the best chance of success for all, for the collective, which talks to the governance and the overall strategy. How how do you manage the governance of all these different moving parts? Um can't control them all, and you talk a lot about partnerships. Is this underneath the governance of the government or is this through the partnership model?

Safiatou Diallo:

It's it has to be a partnership model. I mean, as you know, it's it's it's a shared uh infrastructure with fully shared and sometimes equally shared um responsibilities. So the the miners, the the government, uh, you know, all have to come together to really make this work. Um and this is where basically you you know if we go back to like a corridor that is built with you know one single purpose, um then it's the the risk is to you know to stay uh purely into an extractive uh model. Um and we've seen that in different parts of the world. But once again, if you build a project, especially of this scale around partnership, around strong partnership with really shared responsibility, um, that's where planners' partners can really have a broader impact. Um, and that's when corridors uh such as the Simandu can really start to change the regions or a region um economic rhythm and pave uh the way for um broader transformation and development.

Assheton Stewart Carter:

I'm you and I are going to the investing in Mining Indaba next week, and the investing part of that, they also need to be partners in this. And if there's investment opportunities in other sectors than mining in the agriculture and the infrastructure, what is your message then to the investment community, um which is outside of the traditional mining sources of financing? Should they see this as a development opportunity as well and a financing opportunity to invest into agriculture and infrastructure, transport, manufacturing, processing, and so on?

Safiatou Diallo:

Yes, so so first of all, I want to say um that I think governments and investors each have a very clear role to play. Um actually, governments create the conditions, uh the land use planning, uh the open access rules, the incentives that really make it possible for corridors to support agriculture or manufacturing or trade. And on the investor side, the responsibility is indeed to build an infrastructure, first of all, that is reliable, most importantly, that is safe and generally open to multi-users. And it's really once again when those two, when they come together, that's that's when a corridor stops being just a line on a map. It really becomes um a living economic um artery that creates um a stable social and business um environment. So the message really at Indaba, and and I guess if if there is really one mindset shift that I would love to hear more, it's really how do we go, you know, how do we extract responsibly towards how do we use mining as a catalyst for shared prosperity.

Assheton Stewart Carter:

And I think what you're saying, I think what I'm hearing the theme and your remarks is that the infrastructure that is put in place at mining projects or mineral development projects is as important as the actual kind of extraction infrastructure that is necessary to develop. the mineral um reserve in terms of its development potential. So maybe what you're saying is that mining companies should think of themselves as infrastructure projects and how that can be designed to catalyze regional economic development.

Safiatou Diallo:

Yes, absolutely, Assheton. I mean for me, you know, mining shouldn't be the end of the story. It should really be the beginning of something bigger that fosters future generational opportunities. And coming from the Republic of Guinea, being a Guinean working on the Simandou project in regional economic development, I have seen and I will hopefully keep seeing how powerful it can be when investment reaches beyond the mine itself, when it strengthens the people, when you have services, rural economies that develop, when mining becomes a catalyst for long-term inclusive growth. I mean the the kind that lifts communities and supports a more resilient region. I think once again building on partnerships around integrated infrastructure, that's something we can we can achieve together. And that's why the the you know this mindset shift matters so much.

Assheton Stewart Carter:

Yeah I think you're right. I mean I think many people would agree with you that this is and you can show where this has happened that mining has actually been the catalyst for regional development. I guess the question is how do you initiate that? How do you get that started with all the constraints that that you have and Simadou is certainly looking like a an example for that. And your last point actually reminds me of um Mark Moody Stewart who is the former CEO of um Anglo American and then previously that sorry chairman of Anglo American and previously CEO of Shell. He always saw the mindset shift as being that mining companies shouldn't see themselves as the center of a stakeholder mapping but one of the stakeholders in the middle of which is the mineral development opportunity itself. And once you see it like that, that you are a you know an equal stakeholder in this mineral development then it's easy to see the path forward to catalyze that change that you envision for projects like Simandou.

Safiatou Diallo:

No, absolutely I mean I would I would fully agree with that you know from from my perspective especially working on on regional economic development I mean the shift starts with the designing of the mining projects you know as as actually a platform for broader growth and not just as as um as isolated projects. And this has to be part of really the way we design the projects the way they are financed the capacity of public institutions and the expectations investors bring um all of that actually must um evolve together so that we can you know we can reach these results and and these impacts that we are talking about.

Assheton Stewart Carter:

Fantastic so um the last question I have and this is a sort of crystal ball question you probably have your crystal ball in your left hand pocket. So if you take that out and give that a a quick shine you know looking ahead five years, 10 years what do you think needs to change to have the mining projects in Africa come closer towards your vision that you are implementing at Simandou? What do you think of some of the shifts that need to happen? I guess we've talked about the mind shift but what else needs to happen or maybe that's it maybe we just go need to go out and shift minds well I I I think that it it has to start with the mind.

Safiatou Diallo:

Once we have the mindset um then we have to integrate that into the way we design the projects um we can no longer design you know sole source users projects um we can no longer design um only extractive projects we need to design projects that take into account the context where we operate um we have to design projects uh that takes into account uh the communities where we operate um we have to take into account you know these new models these new financing models these new partnership models where each stakeholder um actually finds uh you know the benefits for them because at the end of the day um to be able to to promote um you know um development uh in these specific countries um we really have to incorporate that in the initial design um of the project um and that's where mining really becomes a catalyst um for long-term and um inclusive growth well thanks so much I mean sad I think I'm gonna have to draw that to a close but what I've taken away from that is you know first of all we've got to have a mind shift that mining managers, executives have got to see the potential of minds to be a catalyst for regional development.

Assheton Stewart Carter:

But context is everything of course everywhere is different even though the principles might transcend those different contexts partnerships are essential because if we're going to um catalyze regional development there's no way that you can do this alone. So that skill to develop partnerships is going to be kind of fundamental. Also that the what a mind can do actually is begin thinking about the infrastructure that it's putting in place and how that can be a shared resource a shared asset from which prosperity can grow. And then lastly if you have all that then when you're designing your project you know right from the outset design for development and we might actually be able to demonstrate very clearly that mining is a driver of sustainable development but not a drag on it.

Safiatou Diallo:

Ashton I just want to add um one final word um I think if and when we choose to see mining as a platform for transformation rather than just production um it really creates something essential and that something essential is is hope. And that hope is what truly opens the door to a shared prosperity future. And I deeply hope and believe that Simandu will support um the economic transformation we ambition in Guinea and um for Guineans.

Assheton Stewart Carter:

Perfect that's a great addition. So thank you once again to our speaker Safiartu Dialung for joining us today and to our listeners please check out the rest of the special series of Mining Indaba podcasts on the TDI Suits and Boots podcast channel. I look forward to seeing you all and to see at the event in February or we are in February seeing you all next week in fact where you can hear from Safiatou on this topic. I'm Assheton Carter and thank you for listening