Morocco’s Phosphate Reserves Could Yield Massive Uranium Deposits, Surpassing Australia

Based on geological estimates, Michaël Tanchum, professor-researcher at the Middle-East Institute, reveals that Moroccan phosphate contains more than three times the 1.9 million tons of uranium contained in the world’s largest ore reserves, in Australia, reports h24info. Recalling that it is the fourth most exploited material in the world, he said that more than 90% of the extracted phosphate is used in the manufacture of synthetic fertilizers. He also pointed out that "the OCP (Office Chérifien des Phosphates) group, the Moroccan public giant of phosphate extraction and fertilizer production, has been producing phosphoric acid, an intermediate product in the manufacture of phosphate fertilizers, from which uranium can be recovered, since the 1980s. The academic specified that OCP produced 40.7 million tons of phosphate and extracted 7.1 million tons of phosphoric acid in 2020.

Despite the renewed interest in uranium as a by-product of phosphate, "the technology for recovering uranium from phosphoric acid is well established," says Michaël Tanchum, noting that "in the 1980s, the recovery of uranium from phosphoric acid accounted for 20% of U.S. uranium production, but it was interrupted when uranium prices hit their lowest level in the 1990s." Consequently, Morocco’s uranium capabilities now represent an opportunity for a strategic nuclear relationship between the United States and Morocco, the academic believes.

Tanchum also mentioned Morocco’s water desalination program to address the food-water-energy trilemma. A partnership has recently been signed between the kingdom and Russia’s Rosatom. The academic calls for greater cooperation between the United States and Morocco in this area. "Washington should build on Rabat’s pioneering position to find solutions to water scarcity," he added. And he concluded: "Since the nuclear option is already part of Morocco’s portfolio of possible solutions to the food-water-energy trilemma, the White House should consider how to engage Rabat as a stakeholder in the dissemination of the United States’ Generation IV mobile nuclear technology."