A routine night shift ended in tragedy for Alseny Camara.

The 32-year-old was working for a Chinese subcontractor building a railway to reach Simandou - the world's largest new iron mining complex, which is being developed by Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto and its partners in West Africa.

Camara was unloading 1.3-tonne-bags of coal ash when the forklift he was operating hit a pillar and toppled over, crushing him.

He was one of six local workers killed between June 2023 and November 2024 in the construction of a port and a 670-kilometre railway leading to the mines in remote rural Guinea, according to internal reports compiled by company officials that documented more than 40 undisclosed accidents, reviewed by Reuters.

Six company sources provided Reuters with the identities of a further six workers who were killed. None of the fatalities have been reported publicly. 

Rio Tinto on October 28, 2024 announced the death of another worker at the port site.

The level of worker fatalities on the mine's rail and port infrastructure – which is managed by Rio's Chinese partners, Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS) – is unusually high by Western industry standards, according to a dozen experts interviewed by Reuters, including mining executives and lawyers.

In 2023, there were 36 worker deaths worldwide in the mining operations managed by 25 members of the International Council of Mining and Metals (ICMM), an association that gathers data from some of the largest companies in the industry - including Rio - and aims to promote safety and sustainable development. The ICMM declined to comment on the toll at Simandou.

Guinea's Mining Minister Bouna Sylla, asked by Reuters about the level of fatalities at the project, said in early February there was an ongoing government investigation into safety issues at Simandou that will run for some weeks. He declined to provide further information.

A Rio Tinto spokesperson, asked about Reuters' findings, did not comment directly on the toll. "We extend our deepest sympathies to the people, families and communities affected by these tragic incidents," he said in an emailed statement, adding that the company is: "working each and every day with our partners...to share knowledge and expertise so safety is continuously improved across Simandou – which is a uniquely complex project."

A spokesperson for WCS said the consortium was "continuously enhancing its safety protocols to ensure they meet international standards."

SAFETY GUIDELINES NOT IMPLEMENTED

Rio announced in December 2023 it was bringing forward the start of iron ore production at the long-delayed mine to the end of 2025 from 2026 – an unusual move in an industry where the scale and difficulty of projects more commonly leads to postponements.

The company first took a stake in Simandou – the world's richest untapped iron ore deposit – in 1997. But for years, its development was delayed by legal wrangling over ownership, by military coups in Guinea, and by the enormous scale of the infrastructure required.

Then in 2022, following a coup the previous year, Rio's Simfer consortium with China's Chalco Iron Ore Holdings formed a joint venture with the new government. Chalco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rio owns a 53% stake in the Simfer consortium, which holds the rights to half the vast Simandou concession. A separate consortium led by WCS, holds the other half and assumed responsibility for managing the construction of the railway and port facilities, via 13 subcontractors.

At a London investor seminar on December 4, Rio's Chief Technical Officer Mark Davies said that the company was meeting or exceeding agreements to deliver production at Simandou on the new, faster schedule.

"We're learning a huge amount from our Chinese partners, especially in relation to speed, simplification, modularization and fabrication," he said. "We're finding the quality of work comparable to our other international suppliers."

However, investigations into at least nine of the accidents, conducted jointly by WCS and Rio-Simfer, found that minimum safety guidelines were not correctly implemented, the reports reviewed by Reuters showed.

The report into Camara's death found that the subcontractor managing the site, Shaanxi Construction Engineering Group Corporation, hadn't assessed forklift risks and had neglected equipment maintenance.

"The subcontractor…lacks preventative maintenance for equipment, which failed to detect equipment defects," the report stated, noting the vehicle had no mirror for reversing, had a seat belt that was not adjustable, a damaged horn and no collision warning device.

Shaanxi did not respond to requests for comment. The investigation, concluded in August, also found that Camara, who had only been working on the job for two months, did not apply emergency procedures properly. Reuters was unable to reach his family for comment.

Although a team of workers freed Camara within minutes of the accident at around 10.30 pm, he then had to be transported to the Mamou Provincial Hospital due to the lack of medical facilities on site. He was not admitted to the hospital until 2.30 am, and he died there two-and-a-half hours later, the report said.

One supervisor on the infrastructure project, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the information, said that due to the limited medical facilities at the camps and a lack of ambulances it was common practice for injured workers to be sent by car or truck to the nearest medical clinic, often some distance away due to the remoteness of the sites.

Four company officials working in Guinea for Rio Tinto and WCS, who also asked not to be named, described a lack of safety measures and health facilities.

WCS and Rio did not respond to requests for comment about specific incidents, or about the quality of the on-site medical care.

A spokesperson for WCS said it was supporting the families of the dead. "The Simandou project is an enormous and challenging undertaking, and we have taken all safety and compliance concerns seriously throughout its development," the spokesperson added.

'INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS TO MEET'

Rio has a direct stake in the infrastructure for the mine. Its Simfer consortium owns a 42.5% share of a joint venture formed in 2022 to develop the rail and port infrastructure, the Compagnie du TransGuinéen (CTG). WCS controls an equal shareholding and the government of Guinea owns the remaining 15%.

Although Rio isn't directly responsible for managing the construction, its Simfer consortium has so far committed $6.5 billion in funding - around half the total for the infrastructure works.

Under the CTG joint venture agreement, Rio also has around 20 staff embedded in the infrastructure project, covering functions including health and safety, environment, and community relations, it said. Reuters was unable to review the joint venture agreement.

"Because Rio Tinto has international standards to meet, we had to help WCS," said one Rio employee, declining to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Secondments of this type between joint venture partners to help transfer skills and capacity are not unusual, industry experts said.

A spokesperson for Rio said the incidents occurred on the WCS managed portion of the project. Leadership from WCS and Simfer were meeting regularly to share learnings, discuss key issues and potential solutions, he said.

Four WCS employees said the Chinese consortium and its contractors had concealed evidence of some fatalities from Rio Tinto-Simfer secondees. They did not provide any written evidence to support their case and Reuters couldn't independently confirm this.

WCS did not respond to a request for comment on this point.

PRIORITIZING SCHEDULE OVER SAFETY      

As of April, a Simandou Project Scorecard produced by Rio Tinto-Simfer to enable management to evaluate progress on the project - seen by Reuters - showed the railway line was 15.5% complete and the port 7% – suggesting that work needed to accelerate to meet the new end-of-2025 production deadline announced by Rio.

Reuters spoke to 15 sources – including current and ex-staff at the site - who said the infrastructure project was prioritizing budget and schedule to safety.

One worker, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, said that staff were not being given enough rest as work continued around the clock. "Our situation is dangerous," he said.

Reuters reviewed a previously unreported draft assessment dated November-December 2023 of compliance with standards set by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a branch of the World Bank that is a recognized authority on industry safety, in the wake of 6 worker fatalities. The assessment was undertaken at the behest of WCS to determine if international safety standards were being met.

The draft assessment - conducted by French firm Artelia for WCS, according to the sources - cited poor health and safety conditions at camps. It stated that first aid training was extremely limited and the quality of medical facilities at the main camps was variable.

"H&S (Health and Safety) performance is very poor and controls on the ground often do not align with industry good standards," read the draft report, reviewed by Reuters. 

Artelia, Rio Tinto and WCS did not respond to requests for comment on the draft assessment. Reuters could not determine if the report was finalized.

Ten of the accident reports examined by Reuters show families of the deceased and seriously injured signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) and waiver statements to say WCS would not be liable for harm suffered. Reuters has not reviewed any of the waivers or the MoUs.

In one case, the death of temporary worker Lasso Konate at a mixing station in June 2023, the local manager and human resources assistant for WCS's subcontractor "went to town to buy rice, oil, onions, water and other food and funeral items," the report said.      

It added that, after the elders and villagers held a prayer ceremony for the 25-year-old, Chinese company officials handed over financial aid to family members.      

Reuters has not seen details of any financial settlements paid to deceased workers families. The news agency was unable to reach Konate's family for comment. The subcontractor, Winning Consortium International Engineering, did not respond to a request for comment.      

Three experts said these kinds of agreements were unusual by industry standards, as mining companies do not typically require families or victims to sign liability waivers following industrial accidents in return for compensation.

Asked about the waivers, WCS said: "Our commitment to supporting the families involves various forms of assistance, including emotional support and logistical help, all while respecting the families' privacy. Financial or material compensation, where appropriate, is provided in line with local customs."      

In addition to the 13 worker fatalities, the internal Simandou accident reports reviewed by Reuters showed that at least five members of the local community were killed in traffic accidents by vehicles from the works.       

That includes four bystanders killed in April 2023 when the brakes failed on a truck.