The South–South investment that never happened: Vale in Guinea

Abstract

This article explores the troubled and unsuccessful entry of the Brazilian mining corporation Vale SA in Guinea, which was motivated by ambitions to develop the coveted Simandou iron ore deposits. In doing so, it offers a useful complement to this special issue's focus on the firm's (dis-)engagement in Mozambique and provides a fuller portrait of the company's extractive errands in Africa, from rise to fall. We examine the relationships among key political and economic actors – namely Vale, BSGR, and the Brazilian and Guineans governments – and their interactions in the pursuit of an extractive project, but in this case one that never happened. We analyze how Vale's investment in Guinea was formed and signified, particularly among Brazilian political and business leaders, and how it crumbled, assessing the interactive influences of Guinean ruling elites and the role of wider economic and political disputes. The Guinea fiasco, we observe, changed the overall strategy of the Global South's foremost mining company. This article contributes to the (critical) literatures on the politics of the extractive industries and of South–South investment, particularly in the context of Brazil–Africa relations.