COUNTRY ON TRACK TO SECURE IRON ORE SUPPLY

CRRC is helping to build a railway linking one of Algeria’s largest mines to the national network as Beijing seeks to diversify its sources of material

In the middle of the Sahara Desert, Chinese workers have been braving the intense Algerian heat as they build a 575km rail line connecting one of the world’s largest iron ore mines to the national rail network.

Workers of the state-owned China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) have begun digging the rocky, dusty route between the Gara Djebilet iron ore mine in Algeria’s southwest province of Tindouf and Bechar at its border with Morocco, in preparation for laying track.

It is tough work, but a task that could ultimately help China de-risk its iron ore supply, while helping the North African country at the same time.

China currently depends largely on Australia and Brazil for its iron ore, the primary raw material for making steel.

Beijing is hoping supply from the Gara Djebilet mine, which has reserves of around 3.5 billion tonnes, will help diversify its sources.

Meanwhile, Algiers is banking on the ore to help reduce its dependence on its oil and gas industries for export revenues.

CRCC will work with Algerian state-owned civil engineering company Cosider Travaux Publics to deliver the railroad, which will connect the remote parts of the mineral-rich western region of Gara Djebilet Iron Mine Zone with the Dumiat Industrial Zone in the Bechar region, with a total of 40 stations along the way. In doing so, it will facilitate the development of Algerian iron ore mining and provide a much-needed boost to the economy.

The Chinese company is well-practised in desert construction. It previously assisted in the construction of parts of Algeria’s 1,216km East-West Highway – built over the course of 16 years “under the most complex geological conditions”, according to Beijing.

The Gara Djebilet project is part of China’s “railway diplomacy” that will see the construction of 6,000km of tracks across the North African country.

It is also part of 19 cooperation deals worth US$36 billion that Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and President Xi Jinping signed in Beijing in July last year.

“Strengthening the railway sector is the best guarantee for development and our Chinese friends have agreed to this project, which will cover about 6,000km,” Tebboune said during his visit to China.

Algerian MP Mohamed Machkak, of the Transport Commission, told Chinese-owned CGTN Africa – the African division of the China Global Television Network – that the new railway project would connect isolated regions, creating thousands of direct and indirect jobs for Algerian youths.

“It will raise standards of living and create economic opportunities for individuals and communities,” Machkak said.

According to Yahia Zoubir, a non-resident senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs in the Qatari capital Doha, the Gara Djebilet mine in the southwest, phosphate projects in the east, as well as other minerals, will help Algeria reduce its decades-long dependence on oil.

In the early 1970s, Zoubir said, the iron ore mines of Gara Djebilet were going to be developed in collaboration with Morocco, under the leadership of then-president of Algeria Houari Boumediene.

Inspiration had been taken from the cooperation of France and West Germany in the 1950s with the formation of the European Community of Steel and Coal, which ultimately led to the creation of the European Union. But a dispute over a region of the western Sahara in the 1970s saw the Algeria-Morocco deal fall through.

Zoubir said the existing infrastructure had become obsolete and the need for an easy way to transport the iron ore across the desert prompted the Algerian government to ask China for help, due to its other successful projects in the country, such as water pipelines, highways and tunnels.

“Undoubtedly, this project is important for Algeria but also for China since the spillover of such a project, once implemented, would be emulated in the sub-Saharan region and in the Mediterranean Basin,” he said.

It would also give China access to another source of iron ore, something it desperately wanted, said Lina Benabdallah, an associate professor in the politics and international affairs department at Wake Forest University in the US.

She said once the Gara Djebilet mine was developed, it was expected to yield an initial production capacity of 2 million to 3 million tonnes per year.

The railway from Bechar to Tindouf was critical for the transport of ore concentrate, she said, both for local and international markets.

“This project is interesting to the Algerian government for the potential for income diversification and economic growth,” Benabdallah said.

Steven Jackson, a professor of political science and fellow at Washington’s Wilson Centre, agreed that the main thing China got out of the Algeria deal was a diversification of its iron ore sources.

He said China was the top steel producer in the world, making over 1 billion tonnes of steel in 2022 – significantly more than the rest of the world combined. But China imports most of its iron ore and 70 per cent of that comes from one country: Australia.

“China-Australia relations have been strained in recent years and China’s leaders would probably want to diversify its sources,” Jackson said.

Undoubtedly, this project is important for Algeria but also for China

YAHIA ZOUBIR, MIDDLE EAST COUNCIL ON GLOBAL AFFAIRS