Sinosteel to finance “Gara Djebilet” iron-ore deposit… and project set to be operational by end of 2017

The national Company of iron and steel “FERAAL” and Chinese company “Sinosteel” equipment & engineering signed Monday, in Algiers, an agreement on carrying out pre-feasibility and feasibility studies on the investments for the development of Gara Djebilet iron-ore deposit in Tindouf (south-western Algeria).

The document was signed by FERAAL’s Director General Ahmed Benabbas and Sinosteel’s Director General Wang Jian, in the presence of the Minister of Industry and Mines Abdessalem Bouchouareb and the Ambassador of China to Algiers Yang Guangyu.

Sinosteel, which is a Chinese state-owned company activating mainly in mining, equipment manufacturing and engineering, is already present with activities in Bellara (Jijel) and Oran.

These pre-feasibility and feasibility studies should be ready by the end of 2017 and will focus on all the aspects of the exploitation of the deposit, said Mr Bouchouareb.

It is also to reach “the best compromise among the necessary investments for the extraction, processing and transport of ore until its delivery to customers in Algeria or abroad,” he added. 

The contract also covers the implementation by China research centers of dephosphorization and enrichment tests on four (4) separate processes, said the minister recalling that the Algerian laboratories are able to reach in 2015 a rate of dephosphoration close to 0, 1%.

On the basis of these studies and tests, Feraal intends to carry out in 2018 a pilot plant to demonstrate the reliability of the treatment process used and to determine all the operational parameters of the Gara-Djebilet iron-ore project to be launched between 2021 and 2022.

In this connection, Mr Bouchouareb noted that for Algeria, the valorization of this iron ore was both strategic and a challenge, stressing that this project will enable Algeria to be placed as a “leader” of the steel and metallurgical industry on a continental scale by establishing a production platform of international size.

The exploitation of the iron ore deposit of Gara-Djebilet will also allow Algeria to become a “metallurgical hub” stimulating new pools of jobs, he emphasized.

In this respect, initial estimates point to the potential for 4,800 direct and 14,500 indirect jobs to be created at the mine, industrial facilities, annexes and infrastructures, he said.

Describing these studies as crucial and decisive for the future of the project, the industry and mines minister also stated that the Algerian side would be “extremely demanding and vigilant on the respect of deadlines and the quality of studies”.