Announcement of Morocco to Improve Small Scale Mining with World Bank Assistance on March 25, 1982

() \ .. I - fOR, IMM~DIA l [ RELEASE - .•World·Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington,D.C. 20433, U.S.A.• Telephone: (202) 477-1234 BANK NEWS RELEASE NO. 82/61 Contact: Melhem Salman March 25, 1982 (202) 477-5328 MOROCCO TO IMPROVE SMALL.SCALE MINING WITH WORLD BANK ASSISTANCE Morocco will carry out a pilot project to improve production from small mines in the southern Atlas region. The project will be.assisted with a World Bank loan of $9.5 million. The project is an effort to make productive a region with little potential for farming but is rich in minerals. It should increase the incomes of miners and the country's earnings from mineral exports. As a result of the project, estimated to cost $15 million, production should increase by 14,300 tons per year for lead and 7,560 tons per year for zinc by 1988. The loan will be used by CADETAF, established by the Moroccan government as an independent organization for marketing exclusively the production from artisanal miners in an area comprising Errachidia, Figuig, and part of Ouarzazate provinces. CADETAF wi 11 agquire a.mobile lead concentrator, a mobile zinc concentrator, a crushing and grind~~g unit, and mining equipment such as compressors, mine cars and tracks, and pumps. A lead mine near Errachidia will be used as a demonstration mine to introduce new equipment and techniques to miners who now use sledgehammers and wheel barrows. Consultants will be provided to help CADETAF develop and carry out systems and procedures to improve such operations as management information, financial and cost accounting, and long-term financial planning. A metallogenic inventory of lead and z~nc occurrences throuqhout the mining region will be carried out to enable CADETAF to calcul~.te probable ·reserves for further expansion of production. ~- () A study will be made to assess the impact of the pilot project on mining and on the incomes and welfare of the 7,500 miners involved in the project. The World Bank loan is. for 17 years, inc 1ud i ng a grace period of four yea!r's, with interest at 11.6% a year. ----------,,.. ___ , NOTE: Money figures are expressed in U.S. dollar equivalents • ••  l\. T E CH N I CA L DATA PROJECT: COUNTRY: ,TOTAL c·osT: Pi lot Project. for Smal 1 Scale Min,,ing Morocco $1 5 •2(~ i 1 lion f • t BANK FINANCING: $9.5 mi 11 ion for 17 years, including four years of grace, at 11.6% interest per annum OTHER FINANCING: Government contribution to CADETAF, $5.1 mill ion; CADETAF int~rnal c~sh generation, $0.6 Million IMPLEMENTING ORGANIZATION: Centrale d'Achat et de_ o,veloppement de 1a R'gion Mini~re du Tafilalet et de Figuig (CADETAF) B.P. 86 -~rrachidia, Morocco <:;_~ PROJECT DESCRIPTION: 1{~-0nsists of: a) acquisition by CADETAF of mobile lead and zinc concentrators~ and of a crushing and grinding unit; b) provision to miners agai'nst credit of-mining equipmen·t and works; c) establishment of, training mine; d) establishment of ore collector centers and provision of equipment to___ -·· CADETAF; e) development of ~CADETAF.-s financial and management_ systems and ~f its financ·· organization; and f) execution of geological and socio-economic studies. PROCUREMENT: The major equipment items (concentrators, crushing, and grind- ing units,and compressors) totaling $3.7 million will be pro· cured through international competitive bidding, in accordance with Bank guid,lines. About $1.4 million worth of equipment will be procured either through iimited international tendering for contracts costing more than $100,000 or tbrough price solicitations of at least three suppliers of Moroccan firms and foreign .firms represented in Morocco for contracts costing less than $100,000. CONSULTANTS: CADETAF will utilize consulting services to help exec...:ute a management and financial study (36 man-months) and a geo- chemical' study (42 man-months), a metallogenic inventory of lead and zinc (36 man-months) and a socio-eco~omic study (12 man-months). ECONOMIC RATE OF RETURN: ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: 32% 1986 - 0 - ••