Moroccan Phosphate
Phosphorus is an essential element for the growth of plants (and animals). Industrial agriculture introduced phosphorus into its mineral fertilizers (the various combinations of N-P-K) and with it successfully addressed, at least at the level of yields, the latest agricultural revolutions, including the “green revolution.”
Morocco has three quarters of known phosphate reserves on the planet, it is the first exporter and the third largest producer of raw phosphates worldwide. The State, represented by the Cherifian Office of Phosphates (OCP) monopolizes the exploitation of this mineral. The sector occupies a privileged place in the Moroccan economy, it corresponds to 21% of export earnings, representing 3.5% of GDP. Phosphates are, after remittances from migrants and tourism, the third most important source of income in the country.
The four main production centers (Khouribga, Youssoufia, Ben Guerir and Bucraa) produced 26.4 million tons in 2010 and, with investments from abroad, it is expected to reach 50 million tons per year in the coming years. In 2010, the group achieved a profit of 763.8 million euros on a turnover of 4,100 million, and its share in the international gross phosphate market went from 29.8% to 35.6%.
On the mines of Bucraa it is necessary to make a clarification.
This site is located in the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara. Since 1947 it was known, thanks to works by Spanish geologists, that there were phosphates in this desert territory occupied by Spain. But it was in the year 1962 when a group of engineers of the ADARO company under INI deepened the geological studies and found the presence of the mineral about 100 kilometers from the coast and El Aaiún. Following the importance of the discovery, the National Sahara Mining Company (EMMINSA) was created, which was later transformed in 1968 into Bucraa Phosphates (Fos Bucraa).
The studies determined the goodness of the discovery: a deposit of 84 kilometers in length, 2.5 to 3 km wide and an average thickness of 5 meters thick, covering about 1.5 billion tons of ore from a wealth of the 31% of P2O5, open-pit exploitable, which greatly facilitated its extraction.
A 100 km conveyor belt was built from the mine to the coast where the ore was shipped. The exploitation began in 1973 when 655,000 tons of ore were shipped until reaching 2.7 million tons in 1975.
The Madrid Agreements of 1975, whose validity is not recognized by the UN, which continues to consider that Spain is the administrative power of the Sahara, included the transfer of Fos Bucraa to l’Office Chérifien de Phosphates (OCP). So one sixth of the production of the Moroccan state company today comes from the Sahara. But in addition to the quantity, what these illegally exploited deposits provide, is their quality.