Genmin fields multiple funding offers for Gabon's $200m Baniaka iron ore mine

Australian developer Genmin has received several expressions of interest to fund its Baniaka iron ore project in south-eastern Gabon, widening the pool of potential backers beyond the Chinese partners it had already been talking to.

In an update on 13 May, the company said a Middle Eastern consortium had made an unsolicited, non-binding offer to provide the full capital requirement through a new joint venture. A Shanghai-listed Chinese company expressed interest in acquiring at least 51% of the project, directly or indirectly, and in supporting construction finance and technical work. A global commodity trader tabled a draft prepayment facility of up to $50m backed by offtake, and a mining-focused investment fund offered $10m of pre-construction funding.

Existing suitors

The new proposals add to a December 2025 letter of intent from Chinese company SHICO to finance up to 60% of the capital, and to a memorandum signed in April 2025 with Sinohydro, a subsidiary of Power Construction Corporation of China, covering mine construction and possible help with funding.

Why investors are looking

Baniaka carries a 20-year mining permit, environmental approval and a signed mining convention. Its logistics plan relies largely on infrastructure that already exists: ore would travel along a 60km road, still under construction, to a railhead on the Trans-Gabon Railway and then to the mineral port at Owendo near Libreville. Genmin plans to start at 5 million tonnes a year and expand to at least 10 million tonnes.

The fiscal terms are also settled. Gabon holds a free-carried 10% stake with an option to go to 25%, collects a 5% royalty on sales, and will tax Genmin's profits at 35%. After meetings in Libreville with mines minister Sosthène Nguéma Nguéma, Genmin said the government had assured it of access to public infrastructure.

Context

Gabon is trying to build an iron ore industry to reduce its dependence on manganese, which is dominated by Eramet's Comilog. The start of production at Simandou in Guinea has renewed Chinese interest in African iron ore, but it also adds a large volume of high-grade supply to a market that analysts already regard as well supplied. Smaller projects like Baniaka will need to show they can compete on cost and product quality.

All the proposals remain non-binding and subject to due diligence and negotiation. Executive chairman Greg Lilleyman said he was confident the company could conclude an agreement, but the investment decision is the real milestone. Rail capacity is another consideration. The Trans-Gabon line, which also carries the country's manganese and timber exports, has suffered from ageing infrastructure, and the government approved a €173m French Development Agency loan in May to rehabilitate track and add passing loops.

Sources

• Ecofin Agency: New Investors Seek to Finance Gabon's Baniaka Iron Ore Mine After China Interest, 13 May 2026
• Ecofin Agency: Gabon Approves $202 Million Loan to Upgrade Part of Transgabonais Railway, 07 May 2026

Photo: The international port at Owendo, near Libreville, Gabon. Delrick Williams, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.