Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Mrs. Leila Benali, has clarified that exceptional permissions were granted to exploit coal, lead and zinc for the benefit of 91 cooperatives and 4 companies, which has brought the total to 266 cooperatives up till end of last year.
Minister Benali, in response to a written question submitted by movement party team, has stated that she is focusing field control on mining projects, to withdraw inactive permissions and reopen them for research and exploitation, outlining that the sector contributes to national exports value with 26%, by an amount of MAD 86 billion.
According to data and figures from the same source, transactions figure reached in 2021 about MAD 100 billion; while at the same time, the size of overall production of mining products reached 41 million tons in the same year. Minister Benali said that she is planning to develop and rehabilitate mining zones through new measures that would help those areas to become development poles at both the local and regional levels.
Minister Benali added that a new development program has been prepared for Jerada province, as well as a new restructuration of traditional mining activity in Tafilalet and Figuig areas; pointing out to a competition launched in 2020 which concerned 294 fractions and a second campaign was launched last September 2021 for 361 fractions.