JPMorgan Chase & Co said that Rio Tinto Group’s Simandou iron ore project in Guinea may cost as much as USD 19 billion to develop, based on the cost of BHP Billiton Ltd’s comparable expansions in Western Australia.

Analysts led by Fraser Jamieson in a report said that “Assuming similar capital intensity as BHP’s recent Pilbara investment which, given Simandou is Greenfield in nature may prove to be optimistic, implies USD 17 billion to USD 19 billion.”

Mr Sam Walsh chief executive officer of Rio’s iron-ore unit said that the Simandou project in the West African nation will require more than USD 10 billion of investment.

Rio said last month it had already spent USD 700 million on the project.

(Sourced from Bloomberg)