Chakib Khelil, minister for energy and mines, has announced ambitious plans to increase Algeria’s phosphate production, generating valuable additional export revenue for the state, and creating up to 50,000 jobs. Speaking at a mining conference in Algiers in December, Khelil told assembled guests Algeria was “open for business.” “We have placed Algeria on the world map as a prominent player in the mining sector,” he added. Algeria currently produces just less than 2 million tons of phosphates a year. Ferphos, the state phosphate mining company, has hopes to increase exports to 4 million tons by 2010, and eventually 30 million tons by 2020. This would see Algeria become the third largest phosphate producer in the world, after the US and China. Phosphate production in Algeria has more than doubled in the past six years following a decline in the mid-1990s. Given the current high price of minerals in the market,
