IRAQ | non-hydrocarbon minerals.

[adnan12]

Post everything related to Mineral ressources of iraq.

It's already known that iraq has World class reserves of Native sulfur, phosphates and limestone.

Those minerals are already used in Fertilizer and cement industry.

I read here and there there is probably Gold and copper in kurdistan, Kaolin in anbar, and rare earth elements in Kerbala...

Most of the articles are badly translated arabic articles.

Everything new and recent about iraqi minerals is welcome.

[sheytanElKebir]

thanks for starting this thread adnan. It is indeed a very important and overlooked part of Iraq's wealth.

[SumerianKing]

Overlooked massively by the government. But who knows, maybe they will have more interest when they fully develop the oil sector.

[SumerianKing]

September 7, 2011 5:37 pm
US finds ‘world-class’ phosphate in Iraq

By David Blair in London

Iraq possesses “world-class” reserves of phosphate with the four biggest deposits holding 5.75bn tons, 9 per cent of the global total, says the US Geological Survey.

The findings give Iraq the second biggest phosphate reserves in the world, after Morocco. Two of these deposits, in the western desert province of Anbar, are big enough to rank among the largest 10 per cent in the world.

Oil production is the mainstay of the Iraqi economy, accounting for almost all government revenue. However, the authorities want to diversify the economy and the US Geological Survey has been working with its Iraqi counterpart to map the country’s non-oil mineral resources.

Four phosphate deposits – known as Akashat, H3, Ethna and Swab – are the most promising discoveries. Greg Fernette, from the US Geological Survey, described these reserves as “world class”. He reminded a London conference on mining opportunities in Iraq that “all modern agriculture depends on phosphate fertiliser”, adding, “if I were investing in minerals in Iraq, I’d be visiting Anbar.”

The two biggest deposits, Akashat and Swab, are thought to hold 1.7bn and 3.5bn tons of phosphate respectively. Their grade, or purity, is slightly below the average of 25 per cent. But Mr Fernette said that some areas of the Swab deposit have a grade of 26 per cent. This prospect also contains 4.2bn tons of limestone, which could be used to manufacture cement.

Mr Fernette described the size of the phosphate deposits as “fantastic”. While the grade available was a “little below average”, there was “variation and there is higher grade” material present. He noted that the global supply of phosphate is forecast to peak in 2034, while demand is likely to grow in parallel with rising food consumption.

The Iraqi government plans to turn the town of Akashat in Anbar province into a centre for phosphate production, with the aim of supplying export markets in Asia.

Rowsch Shaways, the Iraqi deputy prime minister, told the conference that the government aimed to reduce the country’s dependence on oil. The goal was to “achieve industrial growth that contributes significantly to diversifying the economy”.

However, Mr Shaways added that Iraq has yet to attract significant investment in mining, leaving oil as the central pillar of the economy. “Despite all positive change and reforms in various sectors, the unilateral revenue path of the Iraqi economy continues to be a matter of concern,” he said. Any possible gains from the country’s non-oil mineral resources “have not materialised yet”.

[adnan12]

In the 80's, iraq needed a lot of money to fund the war against iran

At this time , oil price was very low. So the iraqi governement decide to devellop other valuable exports.

They started to export Cement, because the of The huge availability of raw material, the high purity limestone found in iraq.

The also exported sulfur from the native sulfur deposit of mishraq , wich is believed to be the biggest in the world.

They made a fortune in the late 80's with sulfur, because the price of sulfur skyrocketed in the late 80's.

There was also Fertilizer & Phosphates exports from Al-qaim and basra plants.

All those products were exported to Jordan, Egypt,turkey.


Iraq has a lot of potential beside oil.

Fertilizer, Cement & Sulfur must be develloped because iraq has already experience, workforce and some infrastructure in those sectors. Plants just need to be refurbished

There are probably many other minerals in the unexplored western desert.

Recently I found a badly translated article about huge reserve of Kaolin aluminium ore somewhere in Anbar

[sheytanElKebir]

During my work, I spent a lot of time with the Geoserv guys in Baghdad. I learned that Iraq does indeed have quite sizeable inventories of raw minerals, although not all in massive quantities.

according to Government estimates, the proved mineral reserves of Iraq included:

10,000 million metric tons (Mt) of phosphate rock,
8,000 Mt of limestone,
1,200 Mt of kaolin,
600 Mt of native sulfur,
330 Mt of dolomite,
130 Mt of gypsum,
75 Mt of quartz sand,
22 Mt each of glauberite and montmorillonite,
50 Mt of salt,
16 Mt of quartzite,
and 2.3 Mt of feldspar.

Moreover, Iraq had substantial reserves of standard sand, sandstone, and gravel. the country produced modest quantities of bauxite, bentonite, cement, clays, gypsum, kaolin, limestone, salt, and sulfur

[sheytanElKebir]

Commodity Review
Metals

Iron and Steel.—The MIM signed a memorandum of
understanding with STX Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. (STX) of
the republic of Korea and an unnamed partner from Turkey
to redevelop the Iron and Steel State Co. steel complex, which
was located in Khawr az Zubayr in the Basrah Governorate
in southern Iraq. The $3 billion project would include the
rehabilitation of the existing infrastructure in the complex by
the unnamed Turkish partner, and STX would build a greenfield
steel mill and a new power station. The mill would use scrap
steel sourced from within Iraq. The proposed project would
produce 1.2 million metric tons per year (Mt/yr) of iron bar,
600,000 metric tons per year (t/yr) of section steel, 1.2 Mt/yr of
hot-rolled products, and electrical energy from a 500-megawatt
power station (arab Steel, 2010c; Baxter, 2010).
Iron and Steel State Co. began testing operations for the
spiral tubes production line, which was expected to produce
200,000 t/yr of spiral tubes. Iron and Steel State Co. was one
of the strategically important nonoil companies in Iraq; it
specialized in the production of wire rods, steel sections, sponge
iron, and tubes. It comprised a group of plants and sections, such
as the sponge iron plant, steelmaking plant, rolling mills, and
pipes and tubes mill, along with an engineering services section
(arab Steel, 2010b).
In March, arcelorMittal of Luxembourg agreed to form a
50-50 joint venture with Dayen Co. of Turkey to build a steel
minimill with an electric arc furnace at Suleimaniah; the mill
would have an initial production capacity of 250,000 t/yr of
rebar that could be increased to 500,000 t/yr. The plant, which
was expected to cost more than $100 million to construct, would
use local scrap metal to make rebar, and was projected to be
completed in 2011 (arab Steel, 2010a).

[sheytanElKebir]

Industrial Minerals

Cement.
—Iraq was one of the leading cement importers in
the Middle East in 2010. The country imported about two-thirds
of the cement it consumed. The MIM invited investors to
build five new cement plants in Iraq to utilize the abundant
limestone reserves at different sites in Iraq. The MIM cited
the availability of raw materials, the wide-scale local market
need, and the low production cost (because the plants would
be very close to limestone quarries) as incentives for investing.
The design capacity of the five proposed plants would be
2 Mt/yr at the Al-Muthana 1 cement plant, 1.2 Mt/yr at the
Al-Muthana 2 cement plant, 1 Mt/yr at the Al-Muthana 3
cement plant, 0.75 Mt/yr at the Al-Najaf cement plant, and
2 Mt/yr at the Nineveh cement plant (Ministry of Industry and
Minerals, 2011).
In april, a joint venture of Lafarge S.a. of France, which held
between 10% and 13% of Iraq’s cement market and planned
to increase its share to 25%, and MerchantBridge and Co. of
the United arab Emirates, took control of the Karbala cement
plant from Southern Cement State Co. The joint venture signed
a 15-year lease agreement with Southern Cement to rehabilitate
the plant, which is located in Karbala Governorate in southern
Iraq and had the capacity to produce 200,000 t/yr of cement. The
joint venture planned to increase the plant’s cement production
capacity to 1.8 Mt/yr within 30 months. Lafarge would own
51% interest in the project and MerchantBridge would own the
remaining 49% interest. The International Finance Corp. (IFC) of
the World Bank agreed to loan $25 million to support Lafarge’s
rehabilitation of the Karbala cement plant.
The IFC also agreed to invest up to $25 million in Lafarge’s
holding company and to provide up to $50 million in loans to
Bazian Cement Co. Bazian Cement was the company that built
and operated the Bazian cement plant, which was located in the
Kurdistan region of Iraq. Lafarge had 70% interest in Bazian
Cement and Faruk Group Holding held the remaining 30%
interest (International Finance Corp., 2010).
In august, China National Building Material Co. Ltd.
(CNBM) was awarded a $250 million contract to build a
greenfield cement plant near the city of Samawa, which is
located in Muthanna Province in southern Iraq. The plant
would have an initial cement production capacity of 1 Mt/yr,
which could be doubled within 3 years. Al-Doh Investment Co.
of Jordan would provide financing to CNBM for the project.
In October 2010, Berkeley Petroleum Mesopotamia asphalt
Ltd. and Sonoro Energy Iraq (a subsidiary of Sonoro Energy
Ltd. of Canada) signed an exploration and production-sharing
agreement with the government of Salah ad Din Province
for asphalt production in the Province (rigzone.com, 2010b;
Thomson reuters, 2010).



Nitrogen.
—according to arab Fertilizers association, Iraq’s
State Company for Fertilizers produced 153,000 metric tons (t)
of ammonia and 210,000 t of urea in 2010. The company
had the capacity to produce 660,000 t/yr and 1,560,000 t/yr,
respectively. The MIM called for investing in three new urea
plants in the Governorates of Al-Anbar, Basrah, and Nineveh,
respectively. The suggested capacity of the new plants would
be between 0.5 and 1 Mt/yr of urea each at a cost of between
$800 and $900 million per plant. Natural gas needed as a
feedstock for these plants would be available in all locations
(arab Fertilizer association, 2011; Ministry of Industry and
Minerals, 2011; State Company for Fertilizers, 2011).


Phosphate Rock.
—The MIM invited companies to invest
in the extraction and concentration of phosphate deposits in
partnership with the General Company for Phosphates. Phosphate
rock deposits were found in the Paleocene akashat Formation
in Iraq’s Western desert. The deposits are located about 15 to
20 kilometers northeast of the akashat Mine and cover an area of
40 square kilometers (km2
). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
and Geosurv estimated Iraq’s phosphate rock deposits at four
sites in the Western desert (akashat, Ethna, H3, and Swab) to
be more than 5,750 Mt, which would be 9% of the world’s total
phosphate rock reserves. The largest phosphate rock deposits
were at the Swab site (3,503 Mt of phosphate rock grading 22%
P
2
O5
), followed by the akashat site (1,765 Mt grading 21%
P
2
O5
), the H3 site (332 Mt grading 18% P
2
O5
), and the Ethna
site (219 Mt grading 18% P
2
O5
). The phosphate rock deposits
(discovered as part of the USGS Iraq Minerals project) could
rank Iraq as the second country in the world after Morocco
in terms of the size of its phosphate rock reserves. The MIM
also invited international companies to build a phosphate rock
processing plant at Akashat in Al-Anbar Governorate. The
plant would have the capacity to produce 1 Mt/yr of phosphate
fertilizer and phosphoric acid and would cost $50 million to
construct. The proposed plant would produce phosphoric acid
and phosphogypsum as a byproduct from treating phosphate
concentrates with sulfuric acid. Phosphate rock would be
supplied from the Wadi Hirri deposit at Akashat in Al-Anbar
Governorate. Sulfuric acid would be produced from the
hydration of native sulfur at the Mishraq deposit in Nineveh
Governorate (Blair, 2011; Fernette and others, 2011; Ministry of
Industry and Minerals, 2011; Watts, 2011).


Silica.
—The MIM invited interested companies to invest in
mining silica sand deposits at Al-Anbar Governorate, which had
the capacity to produce 150,000 t/yr at a cost of $4 million to
$6 million. The silica sand produced would supply the ceramic
and glass industries as well as the proposed white cement plant.
The MIM also proposed to build a 100,000-t/yr-capacity flat
glass plant in Al-Anbar Governorate. The materials needed for
the plant, which include alumina oxide, limestone, silica sand,
sodium carbonate, and sodium sulfate, were available at several
sites in western Iraq. The proposed flat glass plant was estimated
to cost $150 million to build, and the flat glass produced would
be used to supply the local market (Ministry of Industry and
Minerals, 2011).

[sheytanElKebir]

The ministry of industry and minerals has made the following mines available for investment.
http://www.geosurviraq.com/en/p10.html


Mining and beneficiation of Swab Phosphate Deposit (Al-Anbar Governorate).

Mining and beneficiation of Wadi Al-Hirri Phosphate Deposit (Al-Anbar Governorate).

Mining and processing of Mishraq and Lazzaga Native Nulfur Deposits (Nineveh Governorate).

Production of Silica Sand for Glass, Foundry, Thermostone and Silicon Industries (Al-Anbar Governorate).

A plant for the Production of Feldspar Concentrate from Feldspathic Sand (Al-Najaf Governorate).

A plant for the production of Sodium Sulfate From Glauberite Deposits of Shari Saltern(Salah Al-Deen Governorate).

Production of Sodium Carbonate by Solvay Process (Al-Anbar Governorate).

Alumina Production from Kaolin by Lime-Sinter Process (Al-Anbar Governorate).

Production of Ceramic Tiles and Tile-bricks (Al-Anbar Governorate).

Mining and Production of Gypsum-based Construction Materials (Nineva, Salah AlDeen, Al-Anbar & Wasit Governorates).

[adnan12]

"Iraq as the second country in the world after Morocco
in terms of the size of its phosphate rock reserves."

This is an absolute enormous potential.

Phoshpate is absolutely essential to the world because that's the raw material for fertilizer.

Growing world population ---> Growing demand for food----->growing demand for agricultural products -----> growing demand for fertilizer.

Iraq must devellop the fertilizer/phosphate industry.

[SumerianKing]

Originally Posted by adnan12

"Iraq as the second country in the world after Morocco
in terms of the size of its phosphate rock reserves."

This is an absolute enormous potential.

Phoshpate is absolutely essential to the world because that's the raw material for fertilizer.

Growing world population ---> Growing demand for food----->growing demand for agricultural products -----> growing demand for fertilizer.

Iraq must devellop the fertilizer/phosphate industry.

Welcome to forum bro. Yes your right, we will see if such simple logic exists in governments minds.

[ardamir]

Originally Posted by adnan12

"Iraq as the second country in the world after Morocco
in terms of the size of its phosphate rock reserves."

This is an absolute enormous potential.

Phoshpate is absolutely essential to the world because that's the raw material for fertilizer.

Growing world population ---> Growing demand for food----->growing demand for agricultural products -----> growing demand for fertilizer.

Iraq must devellop the fertilizer/phosphate industry.

Considering that the world's phosphates reserves are running low, Iraq now has the very enviable position of possessing two critical commodities.

[Sinjar]

Where is Iraq placed worldwide when we talk about the reserves for the mentioned minerals?

[ardamir]

Hard to say. Morocco has about half of the world's reserves. Article says about 9% so that would definitely place Iraq in the top 5.

[Sinjar]

It's unbelievable that Morocco has so much oO

What about the other minerals?

[adnan12]

Originally Posted by Sinjar

It's unbelievable that Morocco has so much oO

What about the other minerals?

Iraq has probably the world's biggest sulfur reserves.

Sulfur can be obtein by two ways.

• Mining pure sulfur by using the "Frash" method (Injecting hot water and collecting the melted sulfur)
• Collecting Sulfur as oil processing byproduct.

Saudi Arabia collects so much sulfur from oil processing that they don't even know how to use it.


Iraq is a major oil producing country so it already has enormous sulfur reserves diluted inside oil.


It also has the Proven world biggest deposit of Native sulfur in Mishraq.




Therefore, Iraq has the world biggest reserves of sulfur.


Iraq has also Huge reserves of Phosphates.




What is intereting, is the fact that you need SULFUR to make fertilier from PHOSPHATES.


That's the main use for Sulfur.


That's a freakin lucky chance to have Sulfur AND Phosphates available in such big amounts.


that's why iraq MUST become the world's largest producer AND exporter of fertilizer.


That's what i'm dying to say .... but not many people seem to have understood that potential.




The problem with iraq is that it is a dusty country.

Everyting is dusty.


The Minds are dusty


The infrastructure is dusty


The politicians are dusty , all sporting the same freakin moustache


The buildings are dusty




DOWN WITH DUST !!!!


Be young iraq ! be positive ! be smart ! You are a freakingly GIFTED country !

[sheytanElKebir]

yes Adnan. Of course I am aware of the Sulphur+Phosphate potential... (hence the old fertiliser plants in Al Qaim and Basra, as well as the associated railway and port infrastructure to handle them). But so far the government isn't even bothered to install a $50M power station to bring them fully online again!

[adnan12]

Originally Posted by sheytanElKebir

yes Adnan. Of course I am aware of the Sulphur+Phosphate potential... (hence the old fertiliser plants in Al Qaim and Basra, as well as the associated railway and port infrastructure to handle them). But so far the government isn't even bothered to install a $50M power station to bring them fully online again!

"Before, there was only one thief. Now , they are a whole bunch"

A bagdadi shopkeeper, answering the question "What has changed since there is a democracy in iraq ? "

Corrupted & incompetent politicians are a threat for mankind. No matter their religion or nationality.

Iraq desserves better people.

[SumerianKing]

Well said Adnan, Couldnt agree with you any better.

[sheytanElKebir]

Devco International signed a $78.5 million contract to supply and install a sulfur purification system at a state-run plant in northern Iraq, according to an emailed statement from the company.
“The contract was for a turn-key installation of a sulfur purification system including sulfur filtration, sulfur recovery unit, and submerged combustion distillation unit,” according to the company statement.
The purification unit will have a production capacity of 500,000 metric tons a year and output can later be increased to 1 million metric tons a year, according to an emailed statement from the Iraqi Ministry of Industry and Minerals.