{{Chemical company Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) has entered joint venture agreements with Mauritanian National Company for Industry and Mining and has commenced iron ore exploration in the Atomai Mines}}<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabian conglomerate SABIC, which is 70%-owned by the government and has interests in chemicals production, fertilisers, industry polymers and metals, has been exploring the Atomai Mines in Zouerate, northern Mauritania and has been conducting a series of feasability studies. <\/p>\n
The site is believed to hold more than 500mn tonnes of iron ore reserves, according to initial estimates.<\/p>\n
Technical studies reveal that there could be even higher reserves of up to a billion tonnes. <\/p>\n
According to Arab News, the Atomai Mines are known for their high content of high-quality iron and are among the best in the world, with a low cost of extraction.<\/p>\n
Abdulaziz Al-Humaid, executive vice president, metals strategic business unit, SABIC, stated that excavation work as part of the agreements began in September 2013 and is expected to continue for three years. <\/p>\n
SABIC has been aiming to shore up raw material sources for its plant in Saudi Arabia, with surpluses expected to be sold to targeted markets.<\/p>\n
The agreement has seen the establishment of Mauritania Saudi Mining and Steel Company (TAKAMUL), launched to acquire the necessary mining licenses, carry out feasibility studies and exploration work.<\/p>\n
The mining industry is particularly attractive to keen investors, with total industry production accounting for over 65% of total exports. Iron ore alone represents more than 35% of the north-west African country’s exports. <\/p>\n
It is the most important sector of the country\u2019s economy, contributing an estimated 12% of total gross domestic product (GDP).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{{Chemical company Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) has entered joint venture agreements with Mauritanian National Company for Industry and Mining and has commenced iron ore exploration in the Atomai Mines}} Saudi Arabian conglomerate SABIC, which is 70%-owned by the government and has interests in chemicals production, fertilisers, industry polymers and metals, has been exploring the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2000050163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-12343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-africa","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":{"id":2000050163,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12343.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12343.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12343.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12343.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12343.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12343.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000050163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12343"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=12343"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=12343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}