Ali El Melouky, the head of mining at the Moroccan Ministry of Energy and Sustainable Development and deputy minister of Energy, said that the mining sector currently accounts for 10% of the total income of the kingdom. “With the application of a strategy for developing the sector, we aim to take the share of the mining sector to about 15% of the total national income by 2025,” he added.
He noted that Morocco’s production of minerals was estimated to be 36m tonnes last year, as crude phosphates accounted for 90% of the kingdom’s total production, as total phosphates production reached nearly 32m tonnes last year. He added that Morocco will be launching a strategy to develop its mineral resources under the name Mineral Morocco next year, and it is expected to continue until 2025.
The strategy includes the aspect of amending laws in order to simplify procedures, which will encourage investors in the field of mining, as the kingdom aims through the strategy to take investments in the field to 10 times their current volume, and that the total Moroccan investments in the field last year reached DH 14bn, El Melouky pointed out.
Furthermore, he noted that Morocco occupies the first place in terms of phosphate reserves, acquiring about 73% of the total world reserves. The kingdom exports phosphates as a crude material, in addition to phosphoric acid and fertilisers. “We seek over the upcoming period to cooperate with Egypt to utilise phosphates,” he added.
Moroccan laws allow investors to establish companies to work in the field of mining during a period of no more than two days which encourages investors to invest in the Moroccan field of mining, given that investors obtain the total production in exchange for paying the taxes imposed on companies, ranging between 17.5% and 20%, El Melouky declared.
The kingdom of Morocco launched a strategy to develop its resources from the mining field in 2009, with a cost estimated to be DH 200bn, an equivalent of $20bn.
