Only weeks after discovering important oil and gas deposits in its south-eastern region, Morocco now announces there are workable gold deposits in the Sahara region of Tata.
A private firm, Managem, an offshoot of Morocco's largest private corporation (Omnium Nord Africain/ONA), said it would start exploiting a gold mine from January. The company said the deposits should yield three tons of gold annually for ten years.
This is the first such discovery in Morocco, Managem officials said. The firm has launched a successful test in a small exploratory unit to extract 350 kg of pure gold. Managem won a tender to exploit the gold deposits, known as Akka, in 1995. Feasibility studies and preliminary tests were a success, the firm said.
It said there are strong indications that the southern desert is rich in gold and the company is drilling in other areas of southern and central Morocco.
Managem is a holding company for six firms, all of them owned by ONA. It processes several minerals, including phosphates, silver and bronze. –(Albawaba-MEBG)
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