Guinea’s mineral management company said Rio Tinto Group overstated the Ebola virus’s effect on developing the world’s biggest iron-ore deposit and delayed its plans for the mine to focus on operations in Australia amid a rout in prices for the steelmaking material. “The real causes of the delay aren’t so much Ebola as they are the ramblings of the technical team in London,” Societe Guineenne du Patrimoine Minier said in its 2015 annual report. “Simfer overstated the effect of Ebola, unlike other mining companies that were able to better manage the epidemic, ” it said, referring to the concession license-holding company in which Rio Tinto has a 47% stake.
