The beginning of the exploitation of Ghar Jbeilat is a devastating geopolitical blow to the store – New Algeria

The actual commencement of the exploitation of the Ghar Jbeilat mine in the southwest of the country does not constitute a brilliant economic achievement for the Algerian state, as much as it is a major geopolitical victory over those lurking in the country’s territorial integrity, but also a victory over the natural and geographical obstacles that have prevented the exploitation of this important resource over the course of nearly six decades, due to several factors, most notably the absence of infrastructure, especially those related to transporting iron ore to the place of processing.

In a major development in this regard, on Thursday evening, the first shipment of iron ore extracted from the Gara Jbeilat mine in Tindouf arrived at the conversion factories in Oran, after it was shipped via an iron ore transport train last Tuesday, traveling a distance of approximately 2,000 kilometers to reach the iron complex, which means the beginning of the exploitation of the third largest iron mines in the world, with its reserves estimated at about 3.5 billion tons.

The discovery of the Gara Jbeilat mine dates back to 1952, by French engineers during the French colonial period. After Algeria gained its independence in 1962, the state began to nationalize the mines. The mine was included in a government plan in 1970 as a national strategic project, but difficult facts prevented it from being exploited, such as the remoteness of the site and the absence of infrastructure, including railways.

Because of these natural obstacles and the lack of capabilities at that time, the Moroccan warehouse regime believed that it was inevitable to negotiate with it in exchange for exploiting this wealth that made many salivate. However, the shock was great when, in the year 2023, President Abdelmadjid Tebboune took the decision to establish a railway line extending to the mine over a length of more than 900 kilometers, to transport raw iron to the city of Oran in the north, where it would be processed there.

The Oran complex is expected to produce between two and four million tons of iron ore during this phase, then 50 million tons annually in the third phase, which could provide Algeria with annual revenues of up to four billion dollars, thanks to converting the ore into solid iron and exporting the surplus abroad.

Last November, the Council of Ministers approved the establishment of new iron ore processing factories in Tindouf, Bechar and Naama, along the railway line, with local and international partnerships to produce iron ore concentrates and valorization.

The beginning of the exploitation of the Ghar Jbeilat mine does not only constitute an economic achievement, but also constitutes a devastating blow to the Moroccan gas storage system, which was betting on having a pivotal role in this project, in exchange for benefiting from imports that it had not dreamed of, just as happened with the Maghreb-European gas pipeline, which was passing through its territory, so that it was benefiting from billions of cubic meters of gas in addition to a percentage of the money from gas sales to Spain, before the Algerian authorities intervened and put End this bleeding by stopping work on this pipeline and being satisfied with the Medgaz pipeline, which connects Algeria directly to Spain without passing through Moroccan territory, which lost a lot by stopping work on the first pipeline.

The losses of the Moroccan Makhzen system from stopping work on the Maghreb-European gas pipeline will be repeated after about five years with the beginning of the exploitation of the Ghar Jbeilat iron mine, without any role for the Moroccan Makhzen system, which is boiling with hatred and envy, but remains unable to do anything. The beginning of the exploitation of the Ghar Jbeilat mine can be considered a geopolitical blow that goes far beyond the cessation of work on the Maghreb-European gas pipeline at the end of October 2021.