Guinea’s $20 billion iron ore project threatens last refuge of forest elephants and chimpanzees

In the misty hills surrounding Bombia, Guinea, the ancient morning calls of chimpanzees now compete with the roar of bulldozers as one of Africa’s largest mining projects carves through critical wildlife habitat. The Simandou railway corridor—a 650-kilometer (400-mile) transportation lifeline connecting massive iron ore deposits to a new Atlantic coast port—represents both economic salvation and ecological catastrophe for this West African nation.

The $20 billion megaproject cuts directly through some of Guinea’s most vulnerable ecosystems, fragmenting the ancestral migration routes of critically endangered forest elephants and threatening over 5,000 western chimpanzees in the Moyen-Bafing region alone. According to Mamadi Tounkara from Guinea’s Office of National Parks and Wildlife Reserves, the constant noise from heavy machinery, explosives, and construction has begun disrupting these species’ natural behaviors and habitat connectivity.

What makes this situation particularly tragic is the timing—these railway corridors are slicing through wetlands and forests that serve as some of the last remaining strongholds for West Africa’s rapidly disappearing megafauna. Forest elephants, already facing severe population declines across their range, rely on these traditional migration corridors that have existed for millennia.

While the Simandou project promises much-needed economic development for Guinea, conservationists warn that inadequate environmental safeguards could irreversibly damage ecosystems that took thousands of years to develop. The challenge now lies in finding ways to balance Guinea’s economic aspirations with the urgent need to protect its irreplaceable natural heritage.