African Continent's Key Minerals: Revitalizing Tunisia's Phosphate Industry: Australian Mining Giant PhosCo Plans to Invest 3.5 Million USD in the Gasaat Phosphate Project

¬ PhosCo Raises 5 Million AUD for Tunisia Phosphate Project

¬ Funding for a Financing-Feasible Feasibility Study for Gasaat Company

¬ Tunisia Aims to Achieve 14 Million Tons of Phosphorus Production by 2030

Australian mining company PhosCo announced on Wednesday its plan to raise 5 million Australian dollars (approximately 3.5 million US dollars) in funding to advance the development of its Gasaat phosphate mine project in Tunisia. This move comes as Tunisian authorities strive to revitalize the country's phosphate production, a key raw material for fertilizer manufacturing.

The company plans to raise funds through a targeted share issue to specific investors. The transaction is expected to be completed on February 25, at which time PhosCo will hold 7.3 million Australian dollars in cash. This funding will be used to support ongoing exploration, development, and technical research work for the Gasaat project.

A preliminary economic assessment published in 2022 showed that the mine is expected to produce 1.5 million tons annually over a 46-year mining period, with an investment of 169.5 million US dollars. PhosCo stated that it will release updated project data and conduct new mineral resource assessments for the Gasaat area. These measures aim to lay the foundation for a commercially viable feasibility study.

CEO Taaz Al-Dawood said, "We have achieved outstanding and continuous drilling results, which form the basis for the upcoming resource update. This funding will help us optimize the scoping study, allowing PhosCo to smoothly transition from the updated scoping study to a bankable feasibility study."

Supporting Industry Recovery

As the Gasaat project accelerates, the Tunisian phosphate industry is facing a critical turning point. As a pillar industry of the country's mining sector, phosphate mining contributes about 2% of the GDP, but production has been declining for the past decade. According to data from the US Geological Survey, Tunisia's phosphate production reached 8 million tons in 2010, ranking fifth globally, and dropped to 3.6 million tons in 2023.

Tunisian phosphate giant Compagnie des Phosphates de Gafsa attributed the decline in production to social and political unrest in the mines after the January 2011 revolution. To reverse this trend, the Tunisian government launched a five-year plan in 2025, aiming to increase national phosphate production to 14 million tons by 2030. The strategy includes upgrading infrastructure for production, processing, and transportation.

The Gasaat project is expected to help achieve this goal. Other projects have also been announced recently, such as the Um Lahsoub project with an annual capacity of about 2.4 million tons. Although revitalizing the industry remains a core part of Tunisia's strategy, the success of this plan hinges on substantial progress in the ongoing projects.

In regions historically plagued by social unrest, the authorities' ability to control tensions is equally crucial. The International Fertilizer Association predicts that global fertilizer consumption will continue to grow, a trend that will persist until 2029.

Source: ecofinagency

Original: toutiao.com/article/1857531945975820/

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