Prime Minister: “Mauritania, Mining Country Par Excellence”

The Prime Minister, Mr. Mohamed Ould Bilal, stressed that the extractive industries were and remain a strong lever for economic growth in our country and can fully contribute to achieving the objectives of sustainable development. In a speech he delivered on 15 March at the Fifth UN Roundtable on Extractive industries and sustainable development in the Arab Region organized via videoconference, he recalled that Mauritania is a mining country par excellence. Thus, it has a thousand mining indices affecting various groups of minerals with two billion tons of confirmed reserves of iron deposit and 25 million ounces of gold not counting copper, phosphate, and basic precious metals and has significant gas resources under development in the Great Turtle Ahmeyim field (GTA) that we share with Senegal. Here is a translation of the full text of that speech: “In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful, Peace Be Upon the Messenger of Allah, – His Royal Highness Prince Abdel Aziz Bin Selman Bin Abedel Aziz Al Saoud, Minister of Energy of the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Their Excellencies Ministers; – Ms. Amina Mohamed, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, – Ms. Rola Dachti, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia, – Mr. Mahmoud Mohyiddin, Special Envoy for Financing the Sustainable Development, – Ladies and gentlemen, senior officials, experts and representatives of international organizations, the private sector, and civil society, Distinguished participants, Allow me first of all to thank His Excellency Mr. António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, for the invitation addressed to the President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Mr. Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, to participate in this round table; and who instructed me to convey his greetings to you, wishing your meeting every success, as some concerns prevented him from taking part. For my part, I would like to congratulate you for this significant initiative which will allow to bring out this essential sector in the economies and the development of all the countries of the world, in particular our Arab countries, from a context marked over a long period by the intervention of international institutions and development partners. We understand the extractive industries, although they play a key role in development in general, their contribution to sustainable development is not immediately apparent to everyone. Whether mining, oil or gas, extraction and transport operations remain damaging to ecosystems and human health, on the one hand, and in the absence of good governance, extractive industries encourage the rentier economy to the detriment of the development of industry, agriculture, and productive sectors, on the other hand. In addition, they contribute very little to the creation of expected job opportunities, especially for young people who are the primary concern of developing countries. Also, the difficulty of setting up governance and control systems that ensure transparent management of the revenues of these industries, the divide in terms of access to information and the vast technological gap between the multinational companies that exploit these resources and host countries remain among the greatest obstacles to equitable sharing of benefits arising from the exploitation of extractive industries. Despite all these challenges, the extractive industries have been and still are a strong lever for economic growth in our countries and can contribute significantly to the achievement of sustainable development goals. This, at least, is the vision that we seek to develop and implement in Mauritania, as a means of controlling our mineral wealth and its management in full transparency to boost the process of global and sustainable growth of the country. It is this vision which underlies the program of His Excellency the President of the Republic when he declared in his commitments to the Mauritanian people: “The policy that I will follow will aim to exploit new mines, to develop a strategy of traditional exploitation of minerals, and to improve the local content of mining and oil activities ”, so that it contributes significantly to youth employment programs and the promotion of national skills. Ladies and gentlemen, Mauritania is a mining country par excellence, as it has over a thousand mining indicators that include a diversity of resources, representing about two billion tons of proven reserves of iron ore, 25 million ounces of gold, in addition to copper, phosphates, and basic precious metals. It also has significant gas resources under development in the Great Turtle Ahmeyim field, which we share with the Republic of Senegal. In this context, our government has put in place a legal and legislative framework guaranteeing transparency and good governance in this area and promoting the strengthening of our country’s base of attractiveness for foreign investments. It is making great efforts to strengthen incentives and ensure the integrated development of equipment and services, as well as to promote human resources, with emphasis on technical and vocational training, in addition to strengthening national expertise. It is a path that we know is long and arduous, and which requires a strong commitment from international companies and a solid partnership between the public and private sectors. For this development to be sustainable, we are working to integrate efforts of the mining and energy sectors, while relying on the prospects for exploiting gas in the electricity sector to significantly reduce energy costs for the development of the industrial sector. In this regard, our strategic objective is to double the level of access to electricity by 2030, and to increase the share of renewable energies in the energy mix to no less than 50%, as our country has immeasurable resources of solar and wind renewable energies. In all cases, we are keen to direct what we expect from the revenues of our current investments to double iron production by 2028 and the significant increase in gold production and gas revenues expected to enhance the development of the education and health sectors and fight poverty. In a way that guarantees building a strong economy that ensures social cohesion and enhances stability and peace. In any case, we would like to direct the foreseeable income from our current investments towards doubling iron production by 2028 and significantly increasing gold production and gas revenues to foster the development of the education and health sectors and fight poverty, on the way to a strong economy that ensures social cohesion and strengthens stability and peace. It is within this framework that we created a fund for future generations to ensure that they benefit from mineral and gas resources, which we are delighted to develop by benefiting from the experiences of other countries. Ladies and gentlemen, This explains our interest in participating in this important round table, during which we will follow very closely the discussions that will take place and the resulting recommendations. Finally, I hope that this meeting will be fruitful and that we will cooperate to propose practical recommendations that we can apply in the extractive industries sector, to ensure the promotion of the sustainable development approach in its three dimensions: social, economic, and environmental, as part of an integrated approach that facilitates the use of internationally available mechanisms to finance sustainability, with the cooperation and solidarity of all parties. Thank you for your attention May the peace and mercy of Allah be upon you”.