Algeria Unveils $16 Billion Phosphate and Iron Mining Projects to Rival Morocco’s Industry

According to the Algerian Minister of Industry and Mines, Ferhat Ait Ali, these two projects are: an integrated mega-project for the exploitation and processing of phosphate in the east of the country and a mega-project for the iron mine in Gara Djebilet (Tindouf) whose studies are being finalized in order to launch it "as soon as possible".

The investment cost of these two projects is estimated "between 15 and 16 billion dollars," the minister said. The phosphate complex covering five provinces in eastern Algeria (Tébessa, Souk Ahras, El Tarf, Skikda and Annaba) should allow Algeria to rank among the world’s largest fertilizer exporters, a wink at its Moroccan neighbor.

In November 2018, a memorandum of understanding had been signed in Tebessa, which specifies that the Asmidal company (a subsidiary of the Sonatrach group) holds 34% of this complex against 17% for the Manadjim El Djazair (Manal) group, i.e. a total of 51% for the Algerian side, while the Chinese side (the Citic group, the Silk Road and Belt Fund, the Sino-African Development Fund as well as a technology integrator) holds the remaining 49%.

For now, the studies are continuing. "For now, everything is under study. As long as we haven’t signed anything, we have nothing to say. Nothing is certain, on both sides. For now, we are moving forward on several fronts and on the day of the signing we will reveal everything to you," Ferhat Ait Ali hinted.