Beny Steinmetz | CarloMaria Grassi

Diamond tycoon Beny Steinmetz is the owner of BSGR, an embattled mining company with a heavy presence in Africa. Born and raised in Israel, Steinmetz moved to Belgium in 1978 to run his father's diamond business. He eventually became chairman of Geneva-based Steinmetz Diamond Group and sold his stake to his brother in 2014. Steinmetz's iron ore mining efforts in Guinea have erupted into a political and legal battlefield. Iron ore deposits in the west African nation's Simandou region are among the world's most promising. Steinmetz's BSGR acquired mining the rights from the late Guinean dictator Lansana Conté for free, after Conté stripped the rights from Australian mining giant Rio Tinto. In 2010, Steinmetz sold 51% of the mining rights to Brazilian multinational Vale for $2.5 billion, but as of February 2016 he's only collected $500 million. Rio Tinto sued BSGR in New York but the case was thrown out of court in November 2015. Guinea's first democratically elected president, Alpha Condé, decided in April 2014 to strip BSGR of its interests in the Simandou region after an inquiry determined they were illegally obtained and is in the process of auctioning them off. BSGR is asking an international tribunal to halt the proceedings and return its claim to the rights.