Tunisian Phosphate Sector: The New Take Off

Tunisia has a vital human, geological and industrial potentiality related to the phosphate industry. The key factors that strengthen the Tunisian Phosphate industry are:

• Cumulative know-how in phosphate mining of more than 130 years and phosphate transformation of more than 70 years
• Huge phosphate reserves of more than 800 million tons in the active mining basin of Gafsa and around 5 billion tons of raw phosphate rocks in the northern deposit of Sra Ouertane (Feasibility study being updated)
• Highly reactive phosphate rocks suitable for direct application in acidic soils
• An extensive commercial network all around the world
• Two well-established state-owned operators have reached a high technological level in their achievements
  • Compagnie des Phosphates de Gafsa (CPG) for mining and beneficiation, has generalized surface mining in all its sites and has increased the ore recovery rate through flotation of the fine phosphate fraction while reducing its environmental footprint.
  • Groupe Chimique Tunisian (GCT) for phosphate transformation, has developed its process of phosphoric acid and Triple Superphosphate (TSP) manufacturing, along with an appropriate technique to eliminate hazardous impurities from phosphoric acid.

The Installed Capacity of the Phosphate Industry

The installed production capacity of the Tunisian phosphate sector is 8.5 million tons of phosphate…