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A rail link connects the mining town of Zouîrât
with the port of Nouadhibou, the only deepwater roadstead
on the Saharan coastline, accommodating ships of up to
150,000 tons.
Iron exploitation was organized and begun in 1963 by Miferma
(of which 56 percent of the financing was by French groups
and the remainder by British, Italian, and West German
groups and the Mauritanian government). |
The company was nationalized in 1974 and
renamed Cominor (Complexe Minier du Nord). Iron ore deposits
of Mount Ijill have nearly been exhausted, and exploitation
of reserves at Guelbs began in 1984. Iron exports fell
from a peak of 12 million tons in 1974 to an annual average
of nine million tons in the 1980s. The copper deposits
of Akjoujt are extensive, with a copper content of more
than 2 percent. Exploitation was begun in 1969 by Somima
(Société Minière de Mauritanie),
of which 54 percent of the shares were held by British
and U.S. interests, 25 percent by the Mauritanian government,
and the remainder by French interests. Somima was nationalized
in 1975, but operations were suspended in 1978. Reactivation
of the mine remains a constant concern, as does the extraction
of gold from copper ore. Processed copper had been exported
along a highway to the wharf at Nouakchott.
There are substantial gypsum deposits near Nouakchott;
most of the annual production is exported to Senegal.
Other mineral resources are minor, and salt output has
declined. Reserves of ilmenite (the principal ore of titanium)
have been located, and phosphate deposits have been identified
near Bofal in the south. |
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