London-listed commodities giant Glencore Xstrata has reached a preliminary agreement for a $1 billion-contract for access to railway and port facilities with Mauritania, reports theI

According to the newspaper, Glencore is looking to develop three big projects in the western North African country, two in partnership with state-controlled miner Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière (SNIM), reports iOL.

Insiders familiar with the negotiations told the FT said both sides had reached a preliminary deal, pending some final discussions.

“They have now agreed with SNIM the price to use the railway per tonne [according to] international practice,” Mohamed Ould Khouna, Mauritania’s minister of oil, energy and mines, told the Financial Times.

Glencore is still in negotiations with the Mauritanian government about the tax terms of the operation, which could take months.

“It is very rare to find a mining opportunity like this with such exceptional advantages – a rail and port that are already functioning well – that exists nowhere else in Africa,” chief executive of SNIM Abdellahi Ould Mohamed Oudaâ told the FT.