Among its five properties in the kingdom are Zgounder and Boumadine. The former project is the re-opening of a significant silver mine, expecting to produce 85,000 oz/month by early next year, and can quickly provide valuable cashflow for further development.
In March, Maya entered into a joint venture with L’Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines (ONHYM), to acquire 85% of the Boumadine polymetallic deposit located in the Anti-Atlas mountains of eastern Morocco.
Boumadine has historical resources (1992) of 4,096,000 t grading 3.8% Zn, 1.5% Pb, 200 g/t Ag and 3.5 g/t Au and has great potential for resource expansion within the 32 km2 property.
Boumadine was much sought after, but the reputation of Maya’s President, Noureddine Mokaddem, his standing in the Moroccan mining industry and the company’s planning for its projects to provide the best advantages for local populations carried a great deal of weight in the choice of Maya to be ONHYM’s partner.
Mining represents some 21% of the value of Morocco’s exports and employs over 40,000 people directly. So, it is a very important part of the Moroccan economy, but much of that economic input comes from one company (OCP) and product, which is not even covered by the country’s mining convention. OCP accounted for 28% of Moroccan exports in 2011.
Morocco contains about 3/4 of the world’s known phosphates reserves. Phosphate production in 2011 was 28.1 Mt. OCP is the world’s largest exporter and third largest producer of unrefined phosphate. Production of phosphates and derivatives was 32.6 Mt in 2011. It produced 28.1 Mt of phosphate rock, of which it exported 9.7 Mt and supplied 18.4 Mt to its chemical processing facilities in Morocco. By 2020, OCP aims to double its mining and triple its chemical capacities, with some $13.5 billion set aside for this.
OCP intends to establish three new mining operations in Khouribga and a fourth in Gantour.
At the same time, four new washing plants will begin operation with a five-fold increase in capacity. The processes used, it says, “will be driven by the Group’s objectives to conserve water and electricity.”
OCP is moving from trains to pipelines: less water, less energy, less expensive. “The Khouribga-Jorf Lasfar pipeline is a major breakthrough.
Transportation costs between the mine in Khouribga and the production plant in Jorf Lasfar will be reduced eight-fold,” decreasing from $8/t to $1/t. “The pipeline will lead to more savings in energy and in the investments needed to dry locally recovered phosphate rock.”
Morocco is very under explored but has great potential. In March le ministre de l’Energie, des Mines, de l’Eau et de l’Environnement, Fouad Douiri, announced that a new mineral industry strategy and mining code will be presented over this year. It is considered very important that mining investment be encouraged. He described the strategy as an essential part of promoting investment in mining and exploration.
Aside from OCP, Managem is the largest mining company. The jewel in its crown is Imiter, the largest silver mine in Africa, with an annual capacity of 7.7 Moz. Maya recently won a property close to Imiter which is due for some intensive exploration in due course.
I visited Cie Minière de Guemassa, outside Marrakech, in the 1990s. It is just one of the major modern mining projects in Morocco in which Mokaddem has been a key player. This Managem operation remains one of the kingdom’s primary metal mining operations. The operation was initially designed for a rated capacity of 3,000t/d, processing run-of-mine ore averaging 10.5% Zn, 3% Pb, 0.3% Cu and 60 g/t Ag. The process plant has recently been expanded to 6,000 t/d in order to treat ore blended with material trucked from the new Drâa Lasfar mine, 15 km west of Marrakesh.
In the company of these two large miners, Maya is making an impression and has strong connections in the Moroccan mining industry.
Guy Goulet, CEO of Maya, gives a number of reasons for being in Morocco. These include the good infrastructure, a favourable legislative and tax environment, and a strategic location with access to global markets. In addition to the five year tax-free for new mining projects, there is a further 50% tax reduction for miners exporting their products. And he says, mining is “viewed as a driver of economic development.”
