Guinean Youths Torch Vehicles at Disputed Rio Mine

Unemployed youths demanding jobs torched vehicles belonging to mining group Rio Tinto at the weekend near its disputed Simandou iron ore mining project, a company spokesman said.

The global mining company is fighting to keep control of the $6bn project after government officials challenged the validity of a mining permit granted by the West African state.

"Young unemployed people were demonstrating over their employment problems. Three company vehicles were burned," Rio Tinto's spokesman in Guinea, Jean Raymond Soumah, said. The protests happened on Saturday, he said.

"People must understand that we have not yet started operations. Only when we do will the 10,000 or more jobs be created," Soumah said.

For the time being, Rio Tinto was employing around 2,000 people on the project, mainly from the Beyla area where Simandou is located, he said.

"Our colleagues on the spot will contact the authorities to avoid such incidents in future. We will focus on informing local people, because that is in the interests of both sides," Soumah said.

Rio Tinto says Simandou is the world's biggest known undeveloped iron ore deposit, and hopes to mine its first iron ore there in 2013, with full production expected by 2018.

The company said it has already invested $300m in Simandou and is now carrying out further research work for the project, which would involve building a 740km (460 mile) railway to a port on the Atlantic coast.

After a letter from the office of President Lansana Conte cancelled a mining licence, Rio Tinto said it would fight to continue with the project. A source close to the company has said its discussions with Conte's government would likely focus on ways to speed up benefits to the country from the new mine.

Simandou is a centrepiece of Rio Tinto's expansion plans, which have become central to a dispute over the company's valuation as it fights off a hostile takeover bid by BHP Billiton.

by Saliou Samb; writing by Alistair Thomson; editing by Quentin Bryar.