Historical Context of Sustainability

Report on Phosphate Mining in Morocco

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. 2

Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 3

1 Overview of Resource/Industry ............................................................................................... 4

2 Historical Context of Sustainability Challenges ...................................................................... 9

2.1 Environmental impact of Mining ..................................................................................... 9

2.2 Social Impact of mining ................................................................................................... 9

3 Improving Suitability ............................................................................................................. 10

4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 11

5 References ............................................................................................................................. 12

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1- 2013 EU import of Phosphate Rock in Mt (Source; EU 2013)....................................... 5

Figure 2- Exporters of Phosphate by % share in Global Market .................................................... 5

Figure 3- World Population Growth (Source; EU 2015) ................................................................ 6

Figure 4- Reserves of Phosphate (Mt) (Source; The Hague Centre 2012) ..................................... 6

Figure 5- Global and Regional Per capital of food consumption (Source; WHO, 2013) ............... 7

Figure 6- PR deposits currently being mined (Source; Zapata et al. 2004) .................................... 8

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

As presented in the following report, the Moroccan phosphate industry is being presented with

issues for its function. The country being the largest holder of phosphate reserves and the second

largest producer for the mineral needs to re-examine its processes in order to comprehend if it

fits with principles of sustainability. In order to ensure the world that the country is producing an

ethically sound product, significant changes need to be made into the ways in which the mining

process is handled. As discussed in the report, phosphate mining has a significant impact on the

environment and the population at large.

The government of the country, led by the state owned company OCP has been taking significant

measures in order to improve its stance of competition in the world market along with promoting

sustainable phosphate mining. However, there are still various changes that need to be made to

ensure that the most in demand resource of the world is not costing significantly the environment

and the human resource that is involved in its production.

KEY WORDS

Moroccan phosphate, mining, waste disposal, environmental issues, cadmium

1 OVERVIEW OF RESOURCE/INDUSTRY

The Moroccan mining industry is dominated with the production of phosphate its chief export

product. For example;

• Phosphate from Morocco accounts for the 14% of the world’s production in 2011(Walan

and Davidsson, 2014).

• The country holds 75% of the world’s phosphate reserves (Tarradel, 2004).

• Ranked number two in the world for phosphate production (News Desk 2010).

The phosphate mining industry is dominated by Morocco and its competitors China and the

United States. Currently, China ranks top for producing 100 million tonnes (Mt) of with reserves

of 3.7 billion tonnes (Sanaa et al., 2011). Morocco; coming in second, with production of 30 Mt

of phosphate and holding 40 billion tonnes in reserve. Lastly, the United States produced 27.6 Mt

in 2015 (Rachidi et al. 2015.)

Morocco is increasingly becoming a key player in the global phosphate industry which is

hypothesised to rise by 2020 with the production of 55 million metric tonnes due to the

government’s increased investment into the sector (Carlson, 2012).

The demand for phosphate is rising around the world by 2.3% annually, with the OCP; mining

company owned by the Moroccan government, is looking to increase its share in global exports

by 30% by also capturing new demand (European Commission, 2013).

The OCP is able to extract 28 Mt of phosphate from its open-pit mines. It is used by the company

to produce 4.5 Mt of phosphate fertilizer that is used around the world to grow crops

(International Fertilizer Industry Association 2001). However, the world’s population is

expanding at an exponential rate and with it comes the rise of food needs based on consumption

trends, resulting in the demand of phosphate fertilizer to increase. Currently, world consumption

growth is outpacing that of population growth (See graphs 3 & 6).

Figure 1- 2013 EU import of Phosphate Rock in Mt (Source; EU 2013)

Figure 2- Exporters of Phosphate by % share in Global Market

Figure 3- World Population Growth (Source; EU 2015)

Figure 4- Reserves of Phosphate (Mt) (Source; The Hague Centre 2012)

Figure 5- Global and Regional Per capital of food consumption (Source; WHO, 2013)

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

1964-1966 1974-1976 1984-1986 1997-1999 2015 2030

(kca

l pe

r ca

pit

a p

er

day

)

Year

Global and regional per capital food consumption

World Developing Countries Near East and North Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa Latin America and the Carribean East Asia

South Asia Industrialised countries Transition countries

Figure 6- PR deposits currently being mined (Source; Zapata et al. 2004)

2 HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES

2.1 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF MINING

The mining industry has been a key factor in the economic growth of Morocco. However, over

the years there have been many mining sites that have been abandoned over the years with

rehabilitation resulting in the major devastating environmental and socio-economic issues.

Historically Moroccan mining industry has caused much of the following;

• Impact of mining industry on the environment (Zapata et al. 2004).

• Harmful material extraction from mine (White, 2015).

• Harmful disposal of waste from mine (Walan et al., 2014).

• Destruction of natural habitats and soil pollution (The Hague Centre, 2012)

• Runoff and ground water pollution (The Hague Centre, 2012).

• Visual impact on landscape of country (The Hague Centre, 2012).

To address these various issues in the mining industry the government has implemented various

policies whose objective is to integrate the mining process with sustainable development. A new

procedure is enacted using the country’s laws related to environmental protection.

However, other issues have persisted in the country including the number one problem affecting

the country being desertification which is the root cause of other environmental and health

problems. It is caused by the increased salinisation of the soil resulting in increased irrigation and

depletion of water resources ultimately leading to drying out the wetlands of the country

(Carlson 2012). Water shortage is a high concern in the country since 90% of the fresh water

sources are used for agriculture with the available drinking water being polluted by sewage,

waste, and mining by products (Carlson 2012).

2.2 SOCIAL IMPACT OF MINING

There are very few studies on the work-related illnesses or issues of Moroccan mine workers

especially those in the phosphate mining industry. However, studies by Greenpeace and World

Nuclear Assocaited have argued that Moroccan phosphate is seen to be particularly high in

cadmium and uranium, heavy metals that are associated with illnesses like cancer, kidney failure,

and various bone diseases (Bouchbika et al., 2013).. The radioactive by-product associated from

mining phosphate, phosphogypsum is generated from fertiliser production (Bouchbika et al.,

2013). The by-product is simply released into the Atlantic, not only putting at risk the

environment but humans as well. Based on an early study from Rodier (1955) it was found that

150 miners had reported neurological symptoms, muscular weakness, paraplegia and

pneumonopathies (as cited in Landsdown, 2014). Lastly, mining villagers face the lack of

integration into sustainable development projects leaving behind socio-economic issues to spring

up.

3 IMPROVING SUITABILITY

To tackle the various environmental and socio-economic problems in order to promote

sustainability it is necessary the OCP and the Moroccan government implement the following

recommendations;

• Adopt a policy that aims to integrate the mining process into social, societal,

environmental and economic sustainable development.

• Improve agricultural efficiency in Morocco and around the world through optimising

land use and ensuring that good soil quality is maintained.

• Countries within the EU who are most dependent on the resource are to promote the

efficient use of phosphate.

• Reduce the use of or substitute the use of phosphorous in products if alternatives are

available.

o In agriculture there is no substitute for fertilisers without phosphorus.

o In laundry and kitchen detergents phosphate content can be reduced using

appropriate legislation.

• Promote the recovery of phosphate and enable the creation of sustainable markets for

recycled phosphate.

• Leave the mine site in a stable and safe condition on mine closure;

o Rehabilitation, sealing shafts, removing plant and equipment.

o Social impact on the workforce and community associated with the closure of the

mine may mean perusing developmental projects such as infrastructure repair,

education, and health through corporate social responsibility.

• Improved waste disposal methods;

o Discharge of wastes in water bodies need to be accompanied by treatment to

remove contaminants

o Stacking of wastes using sand tailing and salt tailing.

4 CONCLUSION

The Moroccan mining industry for phosphate will seeing a significant boom in its production in

order to compete with the world demand for phosphate products, particularly fertiliser. However,

it is important that the government, OCP and other mining companies, communities, and

environmentalists come together to develop methods by which mining as an industry in the

country can become sustainable.

5 REFERENCES

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