The African Development Bank has approved a $150 million concessional loan to the National Industrial and Mining Company (SNIM).
The loan from the African Development Bank will enable SNIM to acquire up to 36 locomotives and 1,743 wagons to transport iron ore production to the iron ore port in Nouadhibou.
The loan, provided by the bank, represents nearly a third of the company’s $467 million budget, as part of a program aimed at expanding the company’s logistics capacity, with the aim of doubling the transport capacity of its iron ore railway by 2030.
“The program will allow for the creation of a regional industrial hub,” commented Solomon Quaynor, Vice President of the African Development Bank Group, “and represents an important step forward for the mining sector in Mauritania.”
The program seeks to develop the company’s production, in order to reach “higher value” products, such as iron ore pellets, and to build a photovoltaic solar power plant, which will enable the company to decarbonize its activities.
The project, in addition to its production and development aspect, focuses on addressing climate change, as the Global Adaptation Center will provide technical assistance to SNIM, in the form of a detailed assessment of the risks related to climate change for its logistics and operations.
SNIM, the second largest producer of iron ore in Africa, contributes 9% of Mauritania’s GDP and 14% of public revenues, “and this project will allow it to bring its planned production projects closer to the implementation stage,” according to the company’s CEO, Mohamed Fall Ould Talmidi.