THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF ALGERIA—2000
2.1
THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF
ALGERIA
By Philip M. Mobbs
For the Algerian minerals sector, 2000 was another year of
change. The Government debated various revisions to the
mining code and proposed to allow foreign investors to develop
mineral deposits held by the national mining companies. It also
continued the reorganization of the state-owned oil and gas
company Société Nationale pour la Recherche, la Production, le
Transport, la Transformation, et la Commercialisation des
Hydrocarbures (SONATRACH) and proposed to open the oil
and gas sector to competition between public and private
companies (Middle East Economic Digest, 2001b). The
national electricity production, transmission, and distribution
and natural gas transmission and distribution company
Etablissement Public à Caractère Industriel et Commercial
(Sonelgaz) announced that local and foreign investors would be
allowed to generate and sell electricity (Richards, 2001).
Natural gas and petroleum dominated the minerals sector and
accounted for about 30% of the gross domestic product (U.S.
Energy Information Administration, January 2001, Algeria—
General background, Country Analysis Briefs, accessed May
11, 2001, at URL http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/
algeria2.html). Of the nonfuel minerals produced, helium, iron
ore, mercury, and phosphate rock were the most notable.
Government Policies and Programs
With further liberalization of the electrical power generation,
mining, crude oil, and natural gas sectors proposed, the
Government anticipated increased interest in mineral
development and replacement of the limited state funds
earmarked for the natural resource sector by project-dedicated
domestic and foreign investment. The Government proposed to
manage the minerals sector through two new organizations that
will be created in 2002—the Agence Nationale du Patrimoine
Minier and the Agence Nationale du Controle des Mines. In
December, it was reported that SONATRACH would no longer
conduct negotiations for new explorat