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PHOSPHATE JULY 2017 • E&MJ; 45 www.e-mj.com major supplier of fertilizer products in its own right. The company opened its first fertilizer plant at Safi in 1965, taking its feed from the Youssoufia and Benguer- ir mines, with the Jorf Lasfar chemical plant opening in 1984 to process rock obtained from the Khouribga mining hub. For 2015, the company reported production of 30.3 million mt of phos- phate rock, of which 71% was won from the Khouribga deposits. Phosphate rock sales totaled 11.2 million mt, of which 8.5 million mt were exported. However, the company's strategy is to increase sales of value-added products, such as phosphoric acid and fertilizers, using more of its rock output as feed for its own chemical plants. The company's results for 2016, for which it has yet to release production data, reported revenues of US$4.3 billion, some US$600 million lower than in 2015, while operating profits fell from US$1.4 billion to US$672 million year-on-year. Capital expenditure of US$1.4 billion re- flected OCP's long-term expansion plans. OCP Chairman and CEO Mostafa Terrab said, "In 2016, OCP achieved significant operational milestones and remained strongly profitable, confirming the effective implementation of our strat- egy. The expansion of our range of cus- tomized, high-margin products and our leading position across key growth mar- kets have contributed to OCP's resilience despite challenging market conditions. Our rock export capacity was significantly expanded, and our efforts to curtail costs generated very positive results. Impor- tantly, backed by its strategic achieve- ments, OCP captured phosphate demand growth in 2016 through increased capac- ity across the entire value chain." Morocco's Vast Phosphate Endowment Morocco's phosphate resources comprise part of the extensive belt of sedimentary deposits that lies across north Africa from coast to coast, and into the Middle East. According to data supplied by the USGS, world phosphate rock reserves total some 68,000 million mt. Of this, Morocco hosts 50,000 million mt, representing nearly three-quarters of the world's re- serve, with world resources estimated at more than 300,000 million mt. Within Morocco, three main phosphate- bearing regions lie within a 350-km-long belt, 100-120 km inland, that runs more or less parallel to the country's Atlantic coastline. A further deposit area lies to the south within the Moroccan-administered section of Western Sahara. Of Late Cretaceous to Middle Eocene age (around 70 Ma), the phosphate-bear- ing sediments consist of an alternating sequence of phosphorite, phosphatic lime- stones and cherts, with marl and clay beds. A typical sequence, from bottom to top, consists of phosphatic limestone or dolo- mite, coarse-, medium- and fine-grained phosphorite, medium- and fine-grained phosphatic marl, friable or indurated marl, and clay. The deposits are overlain by a thick silicious limestone horizon. Moroccan phosphate deposits are usu- ally low in iron, silica and aluminum. OCP reported that the P 2 O 5 grade in the phos- phate rock varies between 5% and 45%, with an average grade of 31.5%. The com- pany estimated that the Khouribga region hosts around 44% of the country's total reserves, with the Gantour and Boucraâ sites hosting 36% and 2%, respectively. Within individual deposits, the num- ber and thickness of separate phosphate beds can vary considerably, as does the overall thickness of the phosphate-bear- ing strata. For example, the Khouribga deposits attain an overall thickness of 20- 25 m, only half that found further south on the Oulad Abdoun plateau. OCP's Technology Drive Now in the ninth year of its expansion program, and by 2025 OCP plans to have doubled its phosphate production capacity to 57.4 million mt/y, of which 39 million mt/y will be at its Khouribga operations. Recent milestones along the route have in- cluded the opening of the new Beni 'Amir mine and washing plant in 2015, with an initial mine capacity of 5.5 million mt/y. In its 2015 annual report, OCP stated that its future plans include the opening of further mines, washing plants and dry- ing units as it builds capacity aimed at meeting its target of supplying 50% of the growing global demand for fertilizers. In addition to increasing its raw mate- rials capacity, the company has been in- vesting in new fertilizer production lines, in seawater desalination plants, in renew- able energy, and in cutting the costs and emissions associated with transporting feedstocks with the commissioning in 2014 of the 187-km-long pipeline that runs from the Khouribga mines to Jorf Lasfar on the coast. In a paper presented at the 2015 Symphos conference in Mar- rakech, Julian Rusconi and co-authors described the system, and how it works. Phosphate concentrate slurry pro- duced at the individual washing plants near the mines is delivered by pipeline to a central dispatch station at Khourib- ga, with different concentrate grades and qualities being kept in four separate hold- ing tanks there. The concentrate slurry is then pumped through the main pipeline, with batches of different quality being separated by slugs of water. Once at Jorf Lasfar, each batch is directed to the ap- propriate storage tank for an individual process stream before being thickened and used as feedstock. Waste dumps at OCP's Khouribga operations, which account for more than 70% of its annual phosphate rock output.