Overview -

Keywords   Mauritania   iron   open pit

Societe Nationale Industrielle et Miniere (SNIM) is the result of 1975 nationalization of the Societe des Mines de Fer de Mauritanie (Miferma), a company which started to mine the iron rich deposits of northern Mauritania in 1963. Nowadays, SNIM is 78% owned by the Mauritanian government with the rest of the balance owned by Middle East organizations.

SNIM mines are located around the city of Zouerate, in the province of Tiris in a desert area of northern Mauritania. Iron ore is transported from Zouerate mining centre to the Atlantic port of Nouadhibou on a 700 km railway by a legendary train, which used to be the world's longest and heaviest.

Ownership Summary  Name: SNIM    Interest: 78%    Note: state owned Reference: 31 Dec 2006

SNIM estimates that its 5,700 million tones of geological reserves located in four different sites around the city of Zouerate would cover sales forecast for the next hundred years, at a yearly yield rate of 12 million tones of both shipping grade ore as well as low grade ore to be beneficiated.