There have been recent alleged accounts that the Algeria-Morocco conflict may be escalating again. While we can’t verify these attacks or who carried them out, social media posts indicate that there have been recent missiles landing near the residential Moroccan town of Es-Smara in southern Morocco – with some blaming the Polisario Front. Three explosions were said to have happened in an uninhabited area – with no reports of any casualties. In October and November 2023, the Algerian-backed Polisario Front allegedly targeted the same town with missiles. The area is the subject to a long-running territorial dispute between Morocco and its indigenous Sahrawi people, led by the Polisario Front – who demand an independent state. The US and Israel recognise Western Sahara as Moroccan territory. While others claim Iran is using proxy groups like the Polisario Front to stoke tension in the region.
The value of white gold
While we cannot substantiate these claims, nor would it be appropriate for us to do so, we can explain why this region of the Western Sahara is of great interest. And that reason is phosphate or ‘white gold’, that’s critical for global food security.
According to an environmental system scientist at the University of Delaware, Saleem H. Ali, “The concentration of economically viable phosphate deposits with one country should be a concern as the element is key for global food security.”
World’s biggest known reserves
According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Morocco and Western Sahara produce about 38 million metric tonnes of phosphate rock a year, which was 17% of global production in 2021. The USGS also estimates that this region contains 70% of all known sedimentary phosphate rock reserves on the planet. On the western edge of the Sahara Desert, a 61-mile-long white line cuts across the sand – dubbed ‘the world’s longest conveyor belt’. This can be seen from space (from NASA satellites), in large part thanks to the bright whiteness of the phosphate rock against the beige sand. The belt travels from a phosphate mine to the coastal town of El Marsa – where this Critical Raw Material is then transported on from remote northern Africa to many places across the world.
Newly discovered deposits
The USGS estimates were no doubt gathered before Norway’s resources were clearly understood. Now we know that our deposits in the south of the country contain large amounts of high purity phosphate embedded in the world’s most significant igneous phosphate rock. This, in a nation that is politically and economically one of the most stable and developed countries in the world, with a solid history of transforming resources into real and financial assets.
From our phosphate, wet phosphoric acid (WPA) can be created – a key component in the worldwide fertiliser industry. Phosphate-based fertilisers are essential for improving crop yields. As mentioned above, reliable, sustainable phosphate supply therefore supports global food security. It’s also key for global decarbonisation. Phosphate is also increasingly used in electric vehicle battery technology and stationary energy storage. Lithium iron phosphate batteries (LFP) are more environmentally friendly and cheaper than cobalt- and nickel-rich cathodes. Within the context of this topic – the battle for Western Sahara’s phosphate reserves – it’s also worth mentioning that white phosphorus is used for military purposes in grenades and artillery shells to produce illumination, to generate a smokescreen and as an incendiary.
Building resilience & self-sufficiency
This all points to the urgent need for countries to arm themselves metaphorically against the weaponization of supply chains and build resilience against geo-political interruptions or shocks that are out of their control.
To summarise, the words of the European Union’s Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton puts it well:“We have fewer reserves than in other regions, administrative complexity, energy costs, but also because we have for too long considered that decarbonising meant relocating outside of the EU, and this was wrong.”
