Simandou’s price: the Guinea mining rights behind Steinmetz’s bribery conviction

The record

A licence becomes a multibillion-dollar asset

BSGR obtained rights to Simandou blocks 1 and 2 in December 2008. In April 2010, it agreed to sell a 51% interest to Brazilian miner Vale for $2.5 billion. That figure describes the transaction, not a bribe and not a sum awarded to Guinea. [1]

The criminal proceedings examined the route to those concessions. According to the findings reported by OCCRP, contracts promised Mamadie Touré, wife of the late president Lansana Conté, millions of dollars for assistance in securing the licences. The Geneva court found that she exerted influence on the president. It also found efforts to conceal the arrangement, including attempts to destroy incriminating contracts. [1]

What the final Swiss appeal changed

The Federal Supreme Court’s decisions of 24 March 2025, made public on 4 April, left Steinmetz’s three-year sentence standing: 18 months to be served and 18 suspended. The CHF50 million compensatory claim was sent back to Geneva for reassessment. Public Eye distinguishes that claim from a conventional fine; the distinction matters when discussing recovery of proceeds. [1][2]

Steinmetz maintained his innocence. His lawyers criticised the ruling and announced plans to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights. An announced challenge is not itself a judgment reversing the Swiss conviction. [1]

The value moved before the ore

Read together, the licence history and the court record reveal why the award of a concession can be as consequential as the later sale of minerals. Control over a deposit can acquire a multibillion-dollar transaction value before extraction produces public revenue. That is the editorial significance of this case, rather than an allegation about every company subsequently involved at Simandou.

The criminal finding, the reassessment of the financial claim and any money recovered for affected communities must therefore be tracked separately. A prison sentence establishes one form of accountability. It does not, on its own, show what Guinea has received.

Based on reporting from: OCCRP · Supreme Court decision and defence response · 4 April 2025; Public Eye · Simandou case chronology.