Resumen de Moroccan phosphate: the pipeline to global food security
Within Morocco, OCP works from four main mine sites: Benguerir, Yossoufia, Boucraa and Khouribga. The Benguerir and Yossoufia sites contain a total of six mines, producing 8m tpa phosphate, while the Boucraa site, containing just one mine, produces 2m tpa phosphate.
The mine site has been operational since 1921 when the first phosphate shipment left from the port of Casablanca. At that time phosphate was extracted using underground techniques. It wasn't until 1951 that the Khouribga mines were converted from underground shafts to open-pits. In 2000, OCP commissioned the Khouribga flotation plant.
"All phosphate extracted from the Khouribga mines that is sent to either the Jorf Lasfar chemical plants to be converted into phosphoric acid or diammonium phosphate (DAP), or to the Jorf Lasfar port to be exported, will be transported by hydroelectric power through the pipeline," he said.
