GENEVA (AP) — Guinean President Alpha Conde absolved the Brazilian mining giant Vale of wrongdoing Wednesday and pledged to steer clear of corruption as his nation opens one of the largest untapped iron ore deposits in the world.

On a visit to Geneva, Conde said Vale did nothing wrong and was free to reapply to try to acquire rights to exploit the Simandou and Zogota deposits — a deal worth billions of dollars. The government this month canceled the rights held by the VBG, a joint venture between Vale and BSG Resources, because of corruption, Conde said.