Morocco’s Natural Resources

Although Morocco is rich in natural resources, as is the entire African continent, some of its most abundant are fish, salt, and a plethora of minerals and metals.[1]

Raw minerals and metals are plenteous in this relatively small country, as is the case with all of Africa. The geology of the continent has benefited over the millennia, as the verdant landscape of rivers and lakes, mountains and volcanoes, and lush forests contributed to decay of biological matter, and was converted to natural resources. Decomposition and volcanic activity over the centuries have created a continent abounding in potential wealth, but often without the means to extract it. Due to colonization and lack of necessary capital and technological resources, much of Africa’s abundance still lies untouched, deep underground.[2]  Fossil fuels, metals such as iron ore, copper, zinc and tin, as well as gold and platinum, are plentiful.[3] Africa also boasts a treasure trove of precious gems, such as the diamonds of South Africa.[4]

Morocco holds the lion’s share of phosphate deposits throughout the world, which has helped its economy flourish.[5] The uninhabited Western Sahara along the Atlantic coast is plentiful in this rock mineral, where it is easily mined, thanks to the sparseness of population.[6]

 Salt, a longtime export from Africa, is also a common Moroccan product. It is found in various sizes of rough, raw crystals which are collected from the salt beds of the coastline. For household use, it is ground with a mortar and pestle, and is highly valued in cooking.[7]

Having a combined coastline of 1750 kilometers bordering the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea – the richest of all Atlantic regions –fishing is a major staple of the Moroccan economy. Most common species are sardines (pelagic sardinella) and mackerel (Trachurus), although the seas along Morocco teem with as many as 65 different species popular for culinary export.[8]

Morocco has profited, as noted previously, from its strategic location across the Straits from the Iberian Peninsula and adjoining two oceans, and by the trading opportunities this makes possible.[9] With its varied and lucrative natural resources, which lurk along its coastlines and under its sands, savannahs and mountain valleys, Morocco has exploited both circumstances to become an economically prosperous society.

---

[1] John Muhaise Bikalemesa, "Natural resources of Morocco," Fortune of Africa Morocco, March 14, 2014, , accessed February 08, 2017, http://fortuneofafrica.com/morocco/2014/02/22/natural-resources-of-morocco/.

[2] "Minerals and Mining," Africa: Minerals and Mining, , accessed February 08, 2017, http://geography.name/minerals-and-mining/.

[3] Ibid., John Muhaise Bikalemesa.

[4] Ibid., “Minerals and Mining”.

[5] Ibid., John Muhaise Bikalemesa.

[6] W. H. Barker. "Historical Geography of West Africa." The Geographical Teacher 10, no. 2 (1919): 54-58. ttp://www.jstor.org/stable/40556553.

[7] Ibid., John Muhaise Bikalemesa.

[8] Ibid.

[9] "Snapshot, Africa: Morocco," Snapshot, Africa: Morocco, accessed January 19, 2017, http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Africaweb/snapshot/Morocco.htm.