At the foot of the Simandou mountains in southeast Guinea’s lush tropical forest, thousands of workers, trucks and excavators are digging up the hills.

The verdant paradise is home to a gigantic mining project that promises to propel the poor west African country into the ranks of the world’s largest iron exporters — raising economic hopes but also concern for local populations.

In just a few weeks, Guinea will export its first shipments of iron ore from Simandou, officially launching production decades after the discovery of high-grade iron deposits.

“It wasn’t too long ago where this was virgin forest,” Chris Aitchison, managing director of SimFer, one of the operators of the site, told AFP, praising what he said had been a “monumental task” at multiple levels.

The project will ideal

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