Schrole Group Ltd. announced that it will engage with Rio Tinto plc to assess the capabilities in the Republic of Guinea (Guinea) of select local universities and vocational education schools to support Rio Tinto's Simandou iron ore project. Schrole has issued an invoice for approx. USD 225,000 as part of the commencement of the engagement.

Specialists from Schrole's accredited professional development solution, Schrole Develop, will travel to Guinea in November 2022 to assess capabilities across the universities and vocational education schools. After the initial assessment, the Company will recommend actions to support the training of the proposed workforce for its Simandou iron ore project and improve literacy standards in Guinea. At the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea, discussions continue following the incorporation of the La Compagnie du Transguinéen joint venture between the government of the Republic of Guinea, Rio Tinto Simfer and Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS), and enabling works are ongoing, including hiring for critical roles continues with a significant focus on Guinean local businesses and content.

Schrole Develop creates and implements programs working with communities and local governments to initially assess educational capabilities in jurisdictions, then to standardise training methodology, introduce competency-based training, and improve practical components of vocational training and assessment. Schrole was chosen in part due to the success of a previous project in which Schrole Develop worked with Rio Tinto in Mongolia to upskill more than 2,000 vocational teachers to Australian standards. The Company has also assessed and developed training programs for mining projects in Ghana, Ivory Coast and Australia.

The significance of this project is that this represents a material contract with Rio Tinto and extends services already provided to Rio Tinto in Australia. The term of the assessment is 5 weeks. The total estimated contract value of USD 300,000 and has standard termination terms. The Company will update the market if there is a material variation to this estimate.