Ivanhoe Atlantic Inc. appointed former U.S. Ambassador to Guinea Troy Fitrell to its board, strengthening the company’s American leadership as it approaches final permits for its flagship Kon Kweni iron-ore project and prepares to begin construction.
Ambassador Fitrell (Ret.), who served as ambassador to Guinea from 2022 to 2025 and most recently led the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs joins the company as a nonexecutive director.
His appointment adds to a board focused on advancing U.S. investment in Africa’s strategic-minerals sector and building supply chains outside China.
Kon Kweni, in southeastern Guinea, is in the final stages of government permitting, according to Ivanhoe Atlantic.
The company has said construction preparations are advancing as approval nears. The project contains an estimated 751.9 million metric tons of direct-shipping ore, including 209 million tons grading more than 67% iron, according to the company.
Ivanhoe Atlantic owns 85% of the Guinean project, with the government holding the remaining stake. Under the mining convention, Guinea is expected to receive about half of the project’s economic benefits over its operating life.
The project’s location near the Liberian border makes transport infrastructure central to its development. Kon Kweni is about 16 kilometers from Guinea’s border with Liberia and 46 kilometers from the northern end of the Yekepa-Buchanan railway, a route that connects Liberia’s inland iron-ore region with the port of Buchanan.
Through its Liberian subsidiary, Ivanhoe Liberia, the company plans to expand the railway and Buchanan Port to support shipments from Kon Kweni. Initial rail capacity is expected to range from 2 million to 5 million tons a year, eventually rising to as much as 30 million tons annually, the company said.
Ivanhoe Atlantic secured a Concession and Access Agreement with Liberia after more than six years of discussions. The agreement was ratified by the Liberian legislature with President Joseph Boakai’s support in December 2025. Liberia granted final environmental approval for the transport and logistics operations on March 25, 2026.
The company is expected to become the railway’s first multi-user customer, under a plan that would also support exports from other iron-ore producers in Liberia’s Yekepa-Buchanan corridor.
Liberia and Guinea ratified a bilateral agreement in 2021 to promote shared use of infrastructure and closer economic integration.
Fitrell joins former U.S. ambassadors Patricia Moller and Tibor Nagy, who sit on the board of Ivanhoe Atlantic’s Guinean subsidiary. Executive Chairman Ambassador (Ret.) J. Peter Pham said Fitrell’s regional relationships and experience in commercial diplomacy would support the company’s efforts to develop the project and strengthen U.S.-Africa economic ties.
“Africa sits at the epicenter of the global energy and industrial transition,” Fitrell said in a statement, adding that Ivanhoe Atlantic could help build secure and transparent critical-minerals supply chains.
